Chapter 11

Warren awoke in the morning, his head hurting from the sheer amount of thinking he had been doing the night before. Groggy, he smelled coffee and breakfast in the kitchen. With a weak smile, he made his way in to find Joyce cooking far too much food for two people.

"Morning honey." she laughed, walking forward and kissing him lightly on the cheek. "Hungry?"

"Not that hungry." he teased, eying the food she was making.

"I suppose I did get a little carried away." she sighed, putting some bacon on a plate. "I'm just glad you decided to come back and stay the weekend. You work so much, it seems like you never just take a break."

"I don't." he replied simply, pouring coffee into a mug and sitting. "I work very hard not to have a vacation."

She sighed heavily, bringing food to the table and eying her son. He just glanced lazily up at her over the mouth of his mug as he took another sip.

"You're going to give yourself a stroke before you're thirty if you don't take a break every once and a while Warren." she scolded.

He only chuckled to himself as he grabbed a piece of bacon to eat.

"So, what are your plans for the day?"

He only shrugged, rubbing his head lightly as he tried to wake up more.

"I don't know." he groaned, his shoulder popping for some reason. "I might just wander around for a while."

"Well why don't you go see some of your old friends?"

He didn't respond and just thought about it as the two ate their breakfast. Later on, he actually took his mother's advice and went about meeting Stronghold. He still didn't understand how the two of them were even civil with each other let alone friends but there you are. They've known each other for almost fourteen years, a long time, and still talked periodically, musing over their rivalry.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Warren greeted, shaking Will's hand.

"Not bad." he laughed, squeezing Warren's hand a bit tighter than he would a normal person. Warren responding by lighting his. The two laughed. "So, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

He shrugged.

"Still trying to figure that out." he joked, a wry smile touching his lips. "So, how's life treating you?"

Will only chuckled as the two went about walking into the sport's bar they had agreed to meet in. They talked for a while, getting something to eat and bragging about their own lives. Warren just felt exhausted hearing about Will trying to juggle his life, a marriage and being a superhero too. It sounded too tiring for him. Then again, he worked nearly eighty hours a week when they had a big case coming through so maybe it was him with the tiring job.

"So," Will chimed in a voice Warren didn't like. He eyed the man over his drink. "You hear Aryana's in town?"

Warren cocked a brow before setting his drink back down. He didn't know Aryana had told the man about their previous run in and decided to just lie through his teeth.

"No," he finally answered. "Here for the reunion I guess?"

"Yeah, most likely. She hasn't come by to see you?"

"Why would she? I don't live here." he replied, trying to keep the edge from his voice as his eyes moved around the room, avoiding the man to his side.

Will only smiled to himself as he finished off his water.

"Come on man, let's take a trip down memory lane." he said, smacking the back of Warren's shoulder as he stood.

Warren cocked a brow to the young hero, currently digging through his wallet and pulling out a few dollars. Will looked up, smiling to the young man.

"Come on."

"Where do you plan on dragging me?" he asked, standing and paying for his own stuff.

"We're going to school."

Warren just eyed the man and followed him outside. The two walked to the side of the building, away from the eyes of passing 'normals'.

"You ready for this?" Will asked.

"Why the hell do you want to go back to Sky High?"

"Oh come on. It'll be fun." he joked, grabbing the man before he could protest and soaring into the air.

Warren wasn't worried about being dropped, not really, but he would have been grateful for some kind of warning. He didn't know why the hell it would be fun to go back to high school, but a few things crossed his mind. Part of him wondered if Will just didn't like being the big man on campus, everyone knowing his name.

When they landed a few minutes later, Warren couldn't fight his slight irritation and thumped a fireball at the back of the man's head as he fixed his jacket. Will didn't seem to care and laughed instead.

"Oh you're fine. Don't cry about it."

Warren looked slightly impressed that Will seemed to had grown out of his shy phase. A smile and light chuckle left his lips as the two walked into the building. They marveled at how everything looked so different and the same simultaneously. When a bell rang and students began to fill the halls, it didn't take long for them to all but swarm Stronghold. Warren only shook his head as they asked for autographs and so forth.

"Hey man, you think you can find Ethan?" Will asked over the crowd.

Warren raised his hand to the man, signaling his compliance but honestly just wanted to get away from the swooning fangirls. So, with his hands in his pockets, he made his way towards the Hero Support wing.

When he arrived at the classroom, he saw someone that barely resembled the kid he went to high school with reading papers he had on his desk. Ethan heard someone at his door and looked up with a smile.

"Hey Warren." he smiled, standing to shake the man's hand. "How's it going?"

"Good man, you?"

"Busy." he laughed.

Ethan had changed a lot since his days as the little nerd that melted. He was tall now, the same height as Warren but still kind of narrow. He had changed his glasses, thank God, to thinner frames that didn't hide his entire face. He lost the braces, the fluorescent colored clothing and looked more fitting a hero than before.

"How'd you get up here? It's not like you can walk up to the school." he chuckled.

"Stronghold. He's busy with some fans. I decided to come find you."

"Well," he said, glancing down to his watch. "I've got lunch this period. Let's go."

Warren nodded, the two leaving the class and making their way through the halls, trying to find out where Will had gone. The two continued on before spotting a large group hovering around a man in a red, white and blue shirt through the widows of the building. Pointing it out, Ethan led the man through the halls and out the front door.

He shook his head as he walked up, seeing Will talking to one particular fan girl while the others just watched. Some looked a little annoyed that he was paying so much attention to the one that seemed to dominate his attention. Ethan laughed, explaining that this happened every time Will came to the school and he stopped by more than you'd think for someone that didn't work there. Warren shook his head again with a grin playing at his lips.

"Stronghold!" he called loudly. "I found him!"

Will looked up, his face seemingly losing color. It alerted Warren to something obviously not being right. His brow tensed as the young woman Will had been talking to turned around. Familiar silver eyes looked back at him and Warren suddenly understood the man's apprehensions. He felt like someone had kicked him in the gut.

"Warren?" she muttered, her voice making his back tense.

"Aryana."