Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High, or any of the associated characters. Original characters are my own invention.

Summary: See Previous chapters.

Chapter Thirteen

The Commander was slightly embarrassed when he finally realised just how far beneath Heroes that Sidekicks were considered to be, at least by the current administration.

He had put off going into the Superhero Council headquarters for two days after Homecoming, giving the Pied Piper and the Peacebringer time to collect statements from everyone for Royal Pain's trial. He and Jetstream had even promised to accompany Warren to the Maxville Maximum Security prison to speak with a few of the Villains from Royal Pain's time at Sky High. Apparently, Royal Pain had been the only one to realise that messing with the Pied Piper's loved ones only ever ended badly, and the Villains, some of whom had been represented by Patricia in court, were more likely to tell what they knew of Gwen's plans to the son of a Villain, a strange form of honour amongst evil, in exchange for their co-operation being noted on record for a shorter sentence.

Josie told her husband later, privately, that she was a little worried what the Pied Piper might accomplish with such co-operation-in-exchange-for-leniency notes, but it couldn't be helped.

Steve was also worried when he realised that Sidekicks might not be so dangerous individually, but they were much better at working in groups than Heroes, and even more skilled at complementing each other's powers and using a stronger Super's powers against them.

For example, the Peacekeeper had used his Empathy to make sure that everyone felt like being entirely truthful, especially those who were closest to Gwen and would be tempted to try and make themselves look better by lying. The girl who turned into a ball had used a bully's tendency to kick her down a hall to get somewhere much faster than she could under her own power, and, from the training session he had observed, was very good at changing form at exactly the right moment to knock someone off-balance as they fought another Sidekick.

As much as Warren and the Pied Piper's children had proved themselves during Homecoming, the Commander still worried about what would happen if continued refusing to treat them as the heroes they were, or even as normal children.

The Superhero Council, however, did not seem to share that opinion. Heroes were Heroes and Sidekicks were Sidekicks, and even the famous Commander couldn't change the traditional roles that stretched back to the dawn of time. Sky High as a school had a certain amount of autonomy, as far as class structure and courses went, so perhaps he would have to start there.

Like he had told Will on the first day of school, he wouldn't be around forever, and the Superhero council was mostly made up of long-retired Heroes. Perhaps by the time Will and his friends Graduated, there would be fresh minds with fresh perspectives.

But that was something that he could worry about later. For now, he had to visit the Maximum Security prison that housed his Arch-Enemy.

Baron Battle wasn't sure whether to be pleased or infuriated at what he heard through the Prison Grapevine, as four teenagers, too young to have graduated, become disillusioned and switched sides, were brought into the Juvenile Wing. Allergen, a villainess who had been exposed to toxic chemicals during experiments in bio-research, had taken pity on the two girls, one of whom had been the school gossip, and the other the Ringleader of the plot that landed them in a cell, who couldn't stop ranting about how her plan should have worked.

Allergen had promptly told her cell-mate, and then branched out to the rest of the prison population during lunch and recreation time. By the time they received word of an impending visit from the Commander, Jetstream and the Pied Piper, everyone knew what had happened at Sky High Homecoming, and Baron Battle was feeling conflicted.

On the one hand, he was very pleased that the Super community seemed to finally be realising that Warren was not a clone, after all the years they had spend making his life hell by refusing to let him escape his fathers shadow.

On the other hand, the fire-user was furious that it had taken such drastic measures for people to realise that! What were they doing at Sky High, that a Super Villain almost as dangerous as Barron himself had managed to recruit minions and stage a hostile takeover of the one place that was supposed to be safe?

And Warren had been the only pseudo-adult (as an emancipated teen, he legally counted as a adult, but was still only sixteen) to keep his head and lead a running battle against the Villains, while the teachers, Superheroes and Hero students ran around like headless chickens. He knew that his reputation would most likely be shot to pieces, but he jumped up and pulled his son into a tight hug as soon as he walked into the room, totally ignoring the two Superheroes behind him and the girl holding his son's hand.

For nearly a full minute, Warren hugged him back tightly, the only vulnerability that Barron knew his son would show in front of witnesses. Finally, the Supervillain pulled back and gestured for all of them to take a seat. It probably didn't do him any good to deliberately antagonise the Commander, who hated the way Barron managed to present the illusion that he was in control of the situation, but with four Life Sentences, Barron would take his pleasures and victories where he could get them. "I take it Homecoming didn't go quite as well as you had planned?"

The Commander and Jetstream started, probably jumping to the conclusion that he had been in on it. Warren looked slightly pained, most likely anticipating a bout of parental protectiveness. The girl, from her looks almost certainly one of the Pied Piper's girls, though only three when last he saw them, laughed. "Well, before and after the attack was interesting, the music wasn't horrible and the dancing was fun. How did you find out?"

Baron Battle smirked. "Royal Pain and her associates are in the Juvenile Ward right now, and haven's stopped arguing with each other since they arrived. It wasn't hard to pick up the basics, but talk to allergen if you want the gritty details."

Jetstream looked slightly embarrassed, while the Pied Piper looked amused. The Commander tried to pretend that he hadn't reacted, and the teenagers grinned. "Enforced, constant exposure to Penny for a long time. How nice for them to be on the receiving end, for once."

Barron laughed and settled back to enjoy the visit.

The parents who had only found out about Royal Pain's attack when their children returned home were understandably reluctant to let their children out of the house over the weekend or the three days that Sky High was closed for repairs. Finally, however, the students involved in foiling Royal Pain's plot managed to either persuade their guardians or quietly sneak out long enough to meet up in the city park.

Will and Layla arrived first, fresh from their first official date, closely followed by Warren and Roisin. Zach and Magenta were next, arriving less than a minute before Alara, Melissa and Evanna. Ethan was last, having been caught twice on his way out.

There was a small cluster of trees in the centre of the park, surrounding a small rock formation, most commonly used by couples wanting some time out of the private eye. Layla encouraged the trees and undergrowth to expand, blocking them from view. Roisin raised a shadow barrier around the interior, preventing sound from escaping, and Zach provided some dim illumination.

Somehow, the restriction about only using your powers in the School Gym seemed far less important, after the events of Homecoming.

For a long time, no-one knew where to start. Finally, Alara sighed. "OK, I know this is awkward, but there are some things that we do need to discuss, and our parents want us home before dark."

Layla looked relieved that someone else had broken the ice. "We could go in a circle. Everyone picks one question the want to ask, and we take turns."

Warren nodded. "As long as I don't have to go first, sure."

Vague murmurs of agreement came from everyone else, and Layla gestured to Will. "You can go first, Will."

Will looked as though he wouldn't have minded forgoing that privilege, but gave in. "OK, this is going to sound bad, so I'm sorry in advance. Of all the people in Sky High, why did you guys pick Warren to hang out with? There are plenty of others who would have welcomed you."

The pyro in question shrugged the implied insult off. "I'm not offended, and was kind of wondering the same thing. I already had a group of friends, and I wasn't exactly welcoming to any of you. If Layla hadn't phrased her Homecoming Invitation as a way to annoy Stronghold, I would have turned her down flat."

Layla squirmed a bit. "Well, in my case, it was the first name that popped into my head, and the only person that I knew for sure would get a reaction out of you."

Zach gestured to himself and Ethan. "You promised that you wouldn't let being in the Hero Class stop you from being friends with us, but then you dropped us to spend all of your time with the Hero kids. That hurt, man, ditching us for your popular new friends."

Will had guessed some of that, but hearing it from the mouths of friends he had known since first grade made it even worse. "I'm not trying to make an excuse, but I didn't mean to brush you off. It was just, these were the kids I was going to be surrounded by for the rest of High School, and I wasn't sure how to stand up to them when they insisted that I had to be careful who I was seen with if I wanted to be friends with them."

Evanna scoffed, but there was a small trace of empathy in her eyes. "True friends don't make you pick a side, or place conditions on friendship. You need to work on standing up for yourself and for the people you care about."

Ethan steered the conversation away, leaning forward eagerly as he addressed his question to Alara and Roisin. "What is it like, having a Supervillain and a Hero for parents?"

Roisin gave him a half-smile, amused that he had actually said it. "Not that much different than normal parents, I imagine, though Mom has a greater tolerance for using dirty tricks to win a fight. Dad leaves Hero work at the door and in the Secret Sanctum, just like Mom leaves her work in the study."

Alara agreed, edging closer to her twin. "Besides, 'Supervillain' is a bit harsh, given that all she did was ditch the misogynistic moron she had been assigned to, and hold a few people hostage for a few thousand dollars to pay for Law School."

Melissa agreed. "Mom says that Villains can be a lot more practical than Heroes, sometimes, too. Or at least, they plan for possibilities more than Heroes do. Dad says that no-one was surprised that she dropped Silverblade, just that it took her as long as it did."

Magenta smirked. "My dad mentioned the same thing. He was Silverblade's first sidekick, two before the Pied Piper, and he sometimes says that he wishes he had thought of making such a dramatic exit."

Zach and Layla both stared at the shapeshifter, apparently shocked at the idea that Heroes and Villains could have anything in common. Silverblade, along with his ability to generate blades of silver-coloured energy, had the unique gift of infuriating everyone he encountered, and an impressively high Sidekick turnover rate.

Zach recovered first. "What about you, Warren? What was your dad like?"

Warren frowned, before being distracted by a soft 'ping'. Similar noises came from the twins. He pulled a phone out of his pocket. "I don't know how much I'm allowed to say about that. Mrs Wu wants me to check in at the Paper Lantern. She's been a bit fussy ever since she found out about Homecoming."

The twins stood up. "Mum wants us home, too, or a message from Mrs Wu if we choose to go to the Paper Lantern with Warren. We can either continue there, or meet up again tomorrow."

Will shrugged. "I still owe Layla a date, and my parents won't mind, as long as I let them know where we are. Guys?"

Ethan nodded. "If I manage to sneak back home and ask permission, it should be fine. I hope."

Evanna smiled at him. "I'll go with you. My parents got called away on a mission earlier, and won't be back until tomorrow."

Layla stood up, shrinking the trees to the point where they could all get back through into the main park. "We'll see you there, then."

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A/N: Sorry it took longer than expected to get this up. I had the chapter mostly written, then my computer crashed and lost the file, and I had to start from scratch.

Next chapter will contain a bit more backstory (but not too much) and what has or has not changed at Sky High.

As always, I would love to know what you think, because the only way for a writer to improve is to let them know what they are doing wrong.

Thanks,

Nat