Disclaimer: As usual.
Summary: The Same.
Chapter Seven
Evanna might not be destined to be a useless sidekick, but that fate was looking very likely for Zack and Ethan, who were still favourite targets for Sky High's top bullies, especially since Will was spending most of his free time with Gwen.
Evanna had arrived on the latest scene about the same time as Speed and Lash, but since she had started to effectively fight back against any bullies and since Alara was with her, the two boys turned to easier targets. The two girls had debated if Zack's comment during Back-Up Knowledge class, in regards to people being defined by their parents was due cause to leave the bullies to it, but were about to step in when they heard Will's voice. Ethan did, too, because he bolted in that direction, but didn't quite make it. "Will!"
Stronghold came racing around the corner with his not-girlfriend just as Ethan was being stuffed into a locker, Zack glowing for all he was worth in the hopes of drawing attention from inside the locker. "Hey, guys, come on. Let him out, Zack too."
How they had managed to stuff such a tall boy into a locker in the first place was a mystery, but Zack looked very relieved to be out again. "You're not so tough when my boy Will is around, are you?"
The two bullies glared, ruining Zack's bravado when he automatically stepped back. "You better watch it, Stronghold, or that big mouth is going to get you in trouble!"
The fact that Will hadn't actually even said anything seemed to pass them by, despite the boy's protest. "Why don't we settle this in P.E.?"
Stronghold made another futile attempt at smoothing things over, meeting with a total lack of success. "Settle what?"
His friends were not helping at all. The chance to make Speed and Lash back down for even just a few months was too good to pass up just because their friend was unconfident in his own skill. " you're on! If Will beats you in Save the Citizen, you have to lay off the Sidekicks for the rest of the year."
Zack's contribution was not so helpful. "And if he loses, you can dunk Ethan's head in the toilet every day until graduation!"
Alara and Evanna exchanged a look, and practically skipped off to find Warren and Roisin. This was going to be interesting.
Speed and Lash had a reputation for being undefeated at Save the Citizen, but it actually wasn't nearly as impressive as it sounded, if you looked at the facts.
First of all, they tended to pick opponants who were weaker than them, or stronger students who worked badly together. Second, they always played as Villains, who only had to keep the Heroes from saving the Citizen to score a default win. Third, they had exactly one tactic, which they never varied from.
Unfortunately, Evanna, Warren and the twins appeared to be the only ones who had connected the dots so far, and were busy explaining it to Isolde, which meant that everyone who faced them in Save the Citizen got creamed in three minutes or less. Warren had been almost cheerful at the almost certainty that Stronghold was going to get a dose of the same humiliation he had, but less so at the equal certainty that Speed and Lash were about to have free reign over at least one unfortunate sidekick.
They stopped discussing strategy when Amy Ramirez, a Weather-Witch Hero in Roisin's class, and Michael Hamilton, a Healer sidekick in Warren's year, collided forcefully with a dumpster as the countdown began. They managed to pick themselves up just in time to watch glumly as the citizen dummy dropped into the rotating blades.
Coach Boomer didn't need superpower or a megaphone to be heard in every corner of the gym. "Ramirez! Hamilton! Your citizen has just been mulched because you failed to defeat your villains!"
The two 'Heroes' started stripping off the protective padding as the winners chest-bumped and Coach Boomer raised his clipboard. "All right, next round. Speed, Lash, you want to be Heroes or Villains?"
The two grinned as if it was a pointless question, which it sort of was. "Villains."
Even Coach Boomer knew that. "Ooh, there's a surprise. All right, who do you want to beat next?"
Lash grinned, going for maximum intimidation. Roisin leaned over to her sister, "Who else do you think they'll pick? Super strength doesn't really clash with anything, and there aren't many in the lower spectrum who don't get along with Stronghold."
Alara shrugged. "It's rare for them to pick someone based on personality clash, but Warren isn't the only person who is less than fond of the Commander."
Evanna nudged her to pay attention as Lash finally stopped being dramatic. "We'll take Little Stronghold... And we pick Peace."
OK, it was a fair bet that no-one had been expecting that, even if it did make a certain strategic sense. Will and Warren had made their animosity very clear, and it was unlikely that anyone would expect them to be able to work together.
That much was obvious by the way nearly all of the other students leaned away from Warren as he stood up.
Those who heard him as he stalked to the kit area would have assumed that he was muttering darkly... Until he raised his voice just enough for those closest - mostly sidekicks - to hear. "If there wasn't a bet about those two laying off the Sidekicks riding on this..."
Maybe there was a little much of his father in him, or perhaps it was his lawyer not-Aunt's influence. If the other students thought that he was willing to work with his nemesis to get Speed and Lash to back off, it might do some good toward his own reputation, even if they did credit Stronghold for the idea.
Of course, since Stronghold couldn't hide his emotion to save a life, someone might actually confront him on it, and denials that Warren had been in on it might even result in enough bad opinion to make the idiot think before he opened his mouth.
... And that was definitely Roisin's taste for convoluted plots making an appearance. Oh well. He could tolerate the Commander's spawn long enough to win this.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Warren had been chosen as the second Hero, because Stronghold by himself would have been creamed. He wasn't even listening to Coach Boomer's standard instructions, but waving at Gwen. Warren sent him the darkest look he could manage, which was not even close to his usual standard with the warmth of fire racing through his body, waiting to be unleashed. "Hey! Get your head in the game!"
Boomer looked approving. "You have three minutes to immobilize your opponents and save the citizen. Ready, set, BATTLE!"
If Warren had been paired with any of his friends, it would have been easy, since all of them knew better than to stand between him and a target. Stronghold did not, which meant that Warren could only brace himself for the opening move of Lash using one arm as a spring rope, giving Speed enough momentum to act as a human pinball and knock down his opponents.
It was a little insulting to be seen as less of a threat than someone who had come into his powers barely two weeks ago, but if Speed wanted to focus on keeping Will down, that freed Warren up to deal with Lash.
Lash, who should be making his predictable second move of wrapping his extended arms around one or both Heroes any second now... "Ha! What now, Peace?"
Warren brought his fire to the surface, hot enough to scald, but not to seriously burn. Too bad of an injury would see the match cancelled in a draw or Hero forfeit as Lash went to the Nurse, which would defeat the whole purpose.
Lash retracted his arms with a yelp, waving up at Boomer, who hadn't even twitched toward his whistle. "Hey, Coach, that's a foul! Call something on that!"
The coach didn't call fouls for less than a serious injury, and was actually smirking. He had often been paired with Baron Battle during their own school days, and while having just started teaching and a young daughter to protect had prevented him from standing up for Firestar, he was probably enjoying the novelty of Speed and Lash actually having trouble, for once.
Lash stretched himself tall, but was quick enough to sway to one side when Warren threw a fireball, hitting Coach Boomer's clipboard by mistake, prompting an irritated "Watch it, Hothead!"
Warren spared a moment to check on the coach as he patted out a smal fire on his shoulder, but Boomer had worked at Sky High long enough for all of his clothing and equipment to be flame-, freeze- and pretty much everything-else-proof.
Baron Battle had seen the Commander's favourite move enough times to recognise the warning signs, and had made sure his son did, too. That was all that allowed Warren to pull off a perfectly timed jump to avoid being knocked off his feet when the floor rippled, as Stronghold certainly hadn't thought to warn him.
Warren allowed himself a faint smirk as Stronghold earned a hint of approval by using Lash's own powers to tie him in knots around a lamp-post, but lost it again when he just stood admiring his work while Warren focused on Speed, who was regaining his feet after colliding with a bench head-first.
Warren powered up again, sending his mostly-useless partner a glare. "Hey! Save the damn citizen!"
He flared up again, as Speed looked to be aiming for another collision to knock Warren down, but the bigger half of the bullying duo changed course at the last moment, running around Warren in a tight circle. Warren felt a surge of alarm as the flames surrounding him flickered and started to go out.
That was almost impossible to do while the Pyro controlling the flames was still conscious, unless there was an external factor like a fire extinguisher or lack of oxygen. That prompted another surge of worry. Whatever Speed intended, Warren didn't think that the other tough had the control to stop at just putting out the flames.
Lack of air was making him dizzy when Speed was suddenly halted, running in midair. Falling to one knee, Warren only hoped that Stronghold wasn't going to make a big deal about saving him as the younger boy suddenly released Speed, who shot toward the lamp post that Lash was tied abound, sending both of them into the plexiglass wall.
Warren inhaled deeply, starting to stand up as the countdown began, mind racing with half-thought plans to save the citizen, but it looked like Stronghold had remembered a few of his mother's moves, too, because Warren felt himself being lifted by the belt and shoulder-pad, and hurled toward the citizen dummy.
Passing closer to the revolving blades than he particularly wanted, Warren grabbed the citizen and hit the ground in a roll, lifting the 'citizen' above his head to prove that they were 'alive' and intact, just as the bell sounded. He wasn't sure that he had ever heard Coach Boomer sound so thrilled at a win. "She's alive! Heroes win!"
Stronghold extended a hand to help him up, but Warren ignored it. Nurse Spex was waiting in the sidelines, and if he walked out of the ring any way but under his own power, she would fuss even worse than she was already priming up for.
Roisin had been hidden in the toilet since not long after Save the Citizen had ended, crying and resisting all efforts to coax her back out. When Warren got back from the Nurse – checking that the lack of oxygen wouldn't have any lasting ill-effects - and finally scared away any witnesses and went in after her, he nearly ran straight back out when he found out why she was in there.
Roisin had been having a pretty fair time at Sky High, as Heroes were less likely to bully their own, and a few of her classmates had even gone from 'acquaintance classmates' to 'casual friends'… which made it all the more devastating when Roisin had caught them comparing notes with the Senior triplet children of Starshaker, the head of the Superhero Council.
Apparently, Warren being able to co-operate with Will for three minutes so that they could win a game to defend the victimised sidekicks was being analysed, opinions now wavering toward the possibility that lack of parental influence might mean that he turn evil.
Normally, Roisin would have taken that as a positive thing, and been pleased... had the conversation not turned to if there were any indications that Roisin was following in her mother's Supervillain footsteps, and if they needed to remove a potentially-'redeemable' Warren from the twins' corrupting company.
She had made herself known to the backstabbing group by shadow-lifting a trashcan above their heads and upending it when Isolde casually waved off the suggestion that the twins might not be evil, or that she might care what Roisin or Alara thought. "They're going to be Villains anyway, so why would I care what they think? Stupid Villains, too, if they actually think that anyone would want to be their friend."
Warren had every intention of going straight back out and aiming a very large fireball at all six of those responsible, and damn the consequences, but in a rare bout of sensitivity that he liked to pretend didn't exist, he just melted the lock on the door closed and hugged his friend. Roisin had put up a strong front against prejudice for most of her life, pretending that the lack of trust didn't affect her, but the betrayal and deception were new, and far more hurtful.
Principal Powers would go easy on them for skipping class when Warren explained the situation, though the back-stabbers wouldn't get off so lightly. A shadow-construct would let Alara and Evanna know what was happening so they didn't worry. Nurse Spex would give them an early leave pass – Firestar and the Pied Piper had been favourites of hers while she was a student – and Roisin had always liked the motorcycle.
With Alara over at Evanna's house after school (her parents had relented a little, but only allowed one of her friends over at a time) and the twins' parents away a conference, Roisin didn't want to stay home alone, but the Paper Lantern was short-staffed and couldn't cover for Warren's absence, so the Pyro brought her to work with him.
Mrs Wu was formidable, but also very compassionate, so when Warren quietly explained what had happened, her lips had pressed into a thin line before she settled Roisin in a corner booth with tea, duck in lemon sauce, and her newest grandchild, who needed watching and had never yet failed at cheering people up.
It worked, after a fashion, in the sense that Roisin ended up not only with the grand-child, but also with Mrs Wu's nephew and the delivery-boy's younger sister, who were both struggling with homework. Playing impromptu tutor not only provided a distraction, but also put Roisin in a much better frame of mind.
She loved learning, and loved explaining what she knew even more, to the extent that her Middle School guidance councillor had recommended teaching as a future career. If she didn't know that she would be shoehorned into a career that would allow her to dash off at a moment's notice, and the newfound knowledge that the Superhero Council would never allow Sky High to employ her Roisin would have looked forward to it.
The judgemental back-stabbers at Sky High might not think much of her, but people who hadn't fallen afoul of her mother thought that the Pied Piper was a good person, and when High School was over, Civilian opinions counted for a lot. It was something that Warren and the twins had already planned to make use of after graduation.
Speaking of Warren, the dinner rush had died down, so Roisin glanced around and did a double-take when she saw him talking to Layla, who was sitting alone and looking miserable. Raising an eyebrow, she turned back to the Middle-schoolers, who were struggling with timelines. "OK, so what is the main problem here."
Mrs Wu's nephew pointed at the list of dates. "Numbers go forward in AD, but when I did the same in BC, my teacher marked it as incorrect."
Roisin nodded thoughtfully. "All right, do you know what BC and AD stand for?"
The delivery-boy's sister nodded. Before Christ and Anno Domini, which doesn't really make sense."
Roisin smiled. "It's Latin for Year of The Lord. Year 1 AD was supposedly the birth of Christ. Now, the thing to remember is that a timeline is positive and negative numbers. AD is like 'add', where numbers increase as you go forward. BC can stand for 'backwards chronologically' where numbers increase as they go backwards. Does that make sense?"
Mrs Wu's nephew made a careful note, "so 40 BC is actually after 200 BC. Is that right?"
Warren had approached while Roisin was explaining. "Perfect. I hate to interrupt, but the Lady Boss says I should be getting you home."
Away from the two Heroes, the less-threatening twin had managed to convince Evanna's parents to allow her a sleepover after 'discovering' that she had left several homework-necessary books at the Rose house. That meant that they were home when Roisin and Warren returned and explained what had happened at school to put Roisin in such a state.
After much ranting from Alara and outraged indignation from Evanna, the four settled down a little, curled up in one tangled group. Absently stroking her twin's hair as she leaned against Warren, his arm stretched over the couch cushions behind her shoulders, Roisin's voice was soft and almost vulnerable. "Do you ever think about self-fulfilling prophecies?"
On Warren's other side, Evanna lifted her head. "You mean when trying to avoid some event sets in motion the things that will make it happen?"
Roisin nodded and the tall pyro moved his arm from the couch to wrap around her waist, holding her a little tighter than before, his tone matching hers. "All the time."
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A/N: Work and various other Real Life pursuits have kept me too busy to have enough writing time for more than a one-shot here and there, but it's the holidays and I got an iPad for Christmas, so I won't need access to my actual computer to work on my writing, which means that I will be able to actually update my stories.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and I'd love to know what you think.
Thanks,
Nat
