From Discord

By greenrandomness

Author's Note: Not much to say today, but I would like to use this space to reply to one of my anonymous readers, you guys should read this too if you are wonder the length of the story.

Katie that I'm not quite sure how long this will be, although we are getting nearer to the final battle so I'd say under twenty chapters. I can't really give you a definite answer because it really just depends on how many chapters 5 or 6 pages of summarizing and half formed dialogue takes up. Anyways I'm glad you like this and hopefully you will enjoy this chapter also.

Disclaimer: I would love to own Sky High, but as previous disclaimers have mentioned I in fact do not.

Italicized words are thoughts

Chapter 10- City on Fire

I stood frozen as millions of thoughts sped through my head.

He didn't get out so that he could see me.

He didn't get out to be with me.

He didn't even get out to try and get me to join him.

He had gotten out so that he could get his revenge.

I'm not and never was a factor.

Despair washed over me as I stood in my best friends mutilated house, trying to argue against my own thoughts. He really isn't my father, he isn't even a shell of the man he use to be. That man is gone completely, I reasoned, but it fell flat. Either he was dead to me, or I was dead to him. Personally I preferred the former, but my mind would not let up, He'd rather settle a score than spend time with his own son.

My rage began to build again, "He's not my father." I growled; I could see the waves of heat rolling off of me, distorting the desolate room. He took my father. He took my mother. He took…me, a dull buzzing filled my head. He had taken me. I wasn't the same person as I had been before he left. I wasn't always a moody anti-social menace, and hopefully I wouldn't always be. He wasn't going to destroy the life I had built now. Things were just starting to look up; I wasn't going to let him take that from me. I'm not going to stand by and let him take this all away.

"You can't have him!" I screamed into the empty house as if he were listening, I had started to become a new person since I met Will. Will, Layla, Magenta, Ethan, Zack, they had all pulled me out of my shell. Without Will and his idiocy I never would have gone to homecoming with Layla, where I never would have saved the school. I never would have become friends with Ethan, Zack, and Magenta, and I might have lost it by now, torching the school and everyone in it.

I wasn't going to loose them now. I wasn't going to loose the life I had gained. If he killed Will…it would all be gone. Loosing Stronghold would devastate them, and it would be my fault. Even If they didn't blame me, I would never forgive myself. I had to get to pier 26. I turned and started to swiftly make my way to the door, but as I reached the threshold I stopped, unable to make myself move past the broken passage.

But what can you do. My conscience mocked. You couldn't even beat his lackey, how do you plan to stop him. He must have left you for a reason you know.

I had often blamed myself for my father leaving, especially when it had first happened. As a kid I had thought that it had been me who had driven him away that he had left because I wasn't strong enough or fast enough for him. I sometimes thought that I wasn't smart enough or brave enough and it had driven him away. It was those thoughts that glued me to the floor. How can I save Will when I'm not even a good enough reason to break out of prison? My tremors increased, and I grabbed onto the splintered doorframe, holding it with a death grip in an attempt to quell them and my emotions.

The slivers of wood dug into my hands, pulling me from my thoughts. "Snap out of it Peace." I scolded myself, turning back to the desolation of the front hall. I didn't have time for soul searching, Will didn't have time. The phone lay abandoned on the floor, and I knew what I had to do. I bent down and grabbed it in one fluent motion. I may not have been good enough for him, or even good enough to beat him, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try.

Its surface, covered in soot and grim, felt gritty in my suddenly still hands. Who should I call? I couldn't do this alone. The Commander and Jetstream were obviously off saving the day; otherwise Will would have never been kidnapped. Punching in the numbers for my house, I waited silently as the shrill ring played in my ear.

"Hi!" My mother's voice answered happily, and I almost sighed in relief.

I started to reply, "Mom I—" but I was soon cut off.

"You've reached the Peace residence. If you are looking for Warren Or I please leave your name number and a brief message at the beep, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep." I scowled at the recording. I had completely forgotten that we had an answering machine; stabbing at the off key I cursed the person who had invented them.

Turning on the phone again I swiftly hit a series of keys again before once again wasting precious seconds waiting as the phone rang. Once. Twice. Why wasn't she answering her cell phone?

On the third ring a soft cheery voice responded, "Hello?" and I heard Magenta's yelled greeting in the background, she must have been over at Magenta's house. They had been working on a school project for the past couple days. Something about sidekicks' rolls in history or something…I really hadn't been listening to them ever since the attack.

"Layla. Something's happened—" She cut me off with a worried tone before I could finish my statement.

"I know, I heard about it. Isn't it terrible." Her heartfelt reply seemed caring, but distant and it stopped me in my tracks.

"Wait…you already know?" I asked as my eyebrows drew themselves together. She seemed oddly calm about this; it was her boyfriend after all.

"Of course I know. Everyone can hear the sirens. My mom and everyone else's parents had to go help with the fire." She continued seemingly unworried.

"Sirens?" I asked dumbly, I honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yeah there is this huge fire downtown. It's taken out three blocks already…wait…if you didn't know about the fire…what were you talking about?" She fell silent on the other end of the phone before continuing in a panicked voice, "Warren, what's happened?" I could hear Magenta asking the same question, but I was unable to answer. I knew who had caused the fire. He had set the downtown on fire to make sure that they were away. He had needed them to be gone so that he could get his hands on Will, and he had simultaneously distracted all of the major super heroes in town. Even my watchers had been drawn into the fight against the flames, which is why they hadn't been here.

"Layla…I can't explain now. I need you to get the others and meet me at Will's house. Tell Ethan to get all the information he can on the inmates who escaped with my father, and tell Zack to get some of the power inhibiting cuffs from his dad's workroom." I ordered trying to think as far ahead as I could. Luckily Zack's dad was the original designer of the cuffs and was constantly trying to improve on them, which meant he had an amazing amount of them lying around.

"Warren what—"

"Layla, just do it, I'll explain when you get here." I hung up the phone, and then dropped it to the debris-covered floor. I stepped further into the room, crushing various shards of glass with each step, and grabbed the note I had dropped earlier. Staring at it one more time, I glowered at it as I stepped out onto the porch. Slumping onto the top step, I leaned against the railing and stared blankly into the night. I could still hear the sirens wailing in the distance, and now that I was facing the correct direction I could see the signs of fire. The houses across the street were merely silhouettes against the red tinged sky, and smoke was billowing far behind it all in thick spirals. The city was on fire, and Will was in the middle of it.

TBC

Author's Note: Well there's the 10th chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. Not much action in this one, but it is getting closer. Please review and tell me what you think. :)