Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. Original characters and concepts belong to me.

Chapter 14: A Tangled Web

Kate shook her head in confusion and held up her hands to halt the garbled rush of information. "One at a time, guys, please."

For the past five minutes, since the gang had arrived back at her house, they had all been bombarding her with a jumbled story of what had happened during her nap. Usually they were reasonably well-behaved when it came to taking turns, so the way that they were talking on top of one another was a sign of how serious things were. The only one who hadn't said a word was Tessa, who just sat there looking tense.

"I heard Hypnotic's name in there somewhere," Kate continued when there was some degree of order in the living room. "So that's how Arnolde's been controlling Royal Pain and company?"

There was a round of nods. "It makes a lot of sense, when you think about it," said Ethan. "It explains how he managed to get all this past the rest of the NCS Directorship."

"And why a lot of super villains have been acting out of character lately," added Magenta. "Like Royal Pain acting all behind-the-scenes, and Carbon Copy Kid being stupid enough to mess with Warren again."

"And like the way Arctic Flame kept fighting back so hard," said Warren. "It really made no sense at the time, when she was in so much pain."

Will continued with the story. "So anyway, we wanted to find out why she was working for Arnolde, so Warren went to visit her and he spun her a story that the antidote she had taken a couple of years ago had worn off."

Kate saw where this was going, and she turned to Warren with a slight smirk. "So you threatened to use her own drug on her unless she cooperated willingly, right? Did she buy it?"

"Apparently," he replied, "But we'll come back to that in a moment."

Ethan took over the narration. "She said that Arnolde has been inducing her to use her powers for him."

"He's a power inducer?" Kate was shocked. "He doesn't just enable a person to use their powers in a neutralization zone, but can also force them to power up against their will? That is really scary." She looked around the room at her friends, and imagined Will being forced to fly off into space, Ethan made to transform into a puddle and then bottled, Maj forced to shift into a guinea pig and then stepped on, Warren being forced to burn everything in sight including his wife…

"Tell me about it," replied Warren, who was evidently thinking along similar lines.

"Look, we don't know how much control he has over how the person uses their powers," Ethan pointed out. "For example, if he induces Layla to power up, he may or may not be able to dictate which plants she controls and how."

"It certainly appears that he's limited by needing to be in physical contact with the person," added Denise. "For all we know, his inducing power might not be that strong."

"Or it might be almost unlimited," said Magenta. "We really can't take any chances."

There were a few moments of silence as they all contemplated the implications of Arnolde's powers. Then Kate decided that she needed something else to think about instead, even if it turned out to be more bad news.

"So," she said, jarring them from their thoughts, "What else happened?" She looked at Warren. "You mentioned something about her not really buying your threat?"

"Yeah, it seems she knew all along I was bluffing, or at least she was pretty sure of it," he replied. "But she played along because she wanted me to have the information. She also told me that she led Arnolde to believe that her drug wears off over time."

"Why?" Kate asked. "And why was she being so helpful anyway?"

"She was hoping for a chance to get back at him," answered Zach at the same time as Ethan said, "To make him dependent on her," while Warren responded, "Revenge."

"Guys, I said one at a time!" Kate exclaimed, getting a bit irritated.

The three of them exchanged a look and Zach mumbled, "Sorry, mom," which forced her to smile.

"I probably shouldn't have asked more than one question at a time." She shook her head in amused exasperation and turned to Warren. "So, why did she tell him that?"

"Seems she was hoping that if he kept coming to visit her to get more of the drug, then she might someday get a chance to catch him out or turn the tables on him somehow."

"Whereas if he'd just made use of her powers once and left, she'd never see him again," Layla finished.

"She also told him that the antidote lasts forever," added Will, "Which was probably to protect herself from having him try to use the drug on her."

"That also confirms Ethan's theory about why Arnolde didn't try to use it on us," Kate said. "Okay, so why did she tell you all this? You said something about revenge?"

Warren smirked. "Yeah, she's quite ticked about being forced to use her powers against her will–"

"She's a fine one to talk about that!"

"– So she's prepared to help anyone to defeat him, because that would be her revenge too."

"A case of 'The 'enemy of my enemy is my friend'," Ethan remarked.

"And that's pretty much what happened," Will finished. "Now, the question is, what do we do about it?"

That was definitely a conversation-stopper.

"Guys, Kate said one at a time," quipped Magenta sarcastically after almost a minute of brooding silence.

When there still weren't any suggestions offered, Will took a good look around at his friends, and noticed how strained they all seemed to be, with good reason. "How about we call it a day?" he suggested.

"Yeah, it's been quite an afternoon, evening, whatever," Zach agreed. "So, same time, same place tomorrow?"

"Some discretion might be an idea," Denise commented pointedly and looked at Tessa who nodded in mute agreement.

"Right, so Tessa will fetch everyone after work tomorrow," Will arranged, and then amended with a look at his wife, "Well, almost everyone, and we'll assemble at the HQ." He ignored Kate's mock sigh and glanced at Tessa who nodded again.

With that settled, Kate went to bed and Tessa took the others home.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Layla carefully when Tessa had left. She'd noticed that no one had said anything about Warren's little detour before his visit with Hypnotic, and she could see why. That was more of a personal issue, and Arnolde's plot was a much bigger concern.

Warren shrugged as he sat down heavily on the couch. "Isn't that what we've all just been doing?" he asked, misunderstanding her to mean Hypnotic's revelations, either intentionally or otherwise.

"That's not the part I meant," she replied gently.

He frowned. "If you mean, do I want to talk about what my father said, then the answer is 'no'."

Layla knew very well that there were times when Warren really meant that he didn't want to talk about something, and there were times when he actually meant 'Ask me again later'. It wasn't easy to tell the difference between the two, and she'd had her head bitten off a couple of times for trying to press him when she maybe shouldn't have. On the other hand, there had been a number of occasions when encouraging him to talk had actually helped, which he'd even gone so far as to admit later.

But in this case, what with everything else that was going on, she decided it might be better to let him have his space. At least for the moment.

In the middle of the night, Layla got up to go to the bathroom. When she got back to bed she saw that Warren was awake, and she thought she must have disturbed him when she got up. But as she slid back under the covers, she recognized his expression in the half-dark as one of intense concentration as he stared up at the ceiling.

"If it's keeping you awake, maybe you should talk about it," she ventured softly as she laid her head on his shoulder.

After a lengthy pause, during which she began to think he would just brush her off again, he said, "What gets me the most is that I'm positive he was lying. He had to be, it's what he does. But still I can't help hoping that there's some truth in it."

"He told the truth last time the two of you had a deal to exchange information," she pointed out.

"Last time it was worth his while to be honest. There was something he really wanted to know."

"Well, this time it seemed that his greatest need was to gloat."

Warren shifted slightly so that he could look at her properly in the dim light. "Do you really think he could have been telling the truth?" he asked cautiously, but there was a tiny note of hopefulness in his tone.

"I think he was really enjoying himself there," she answered after a moment's careful thought. "He seems to get a kick out of insulting me, and I suppose in a warped way it's more hurtful to use truth than some sort of fallacy that you could simply deny."

"That's quite weird logic, but I wouldn't put it past him." Another long moment passed in silence and then he lay back with a sigh. "And I guess you were right. It did help to talk about it."

She smiled slightly as she snuggled up to him, and couldn't resist teasing, "That's because I'm always right. It's a woman thing, so you might as well get used to it."

Warren gave a small chuckle despite himself and kissed the top of her head. She was almost asleep when she heard him say softly, "Thanks."

The next day Tessa debated calling in sick, but in the end she reckoned that if Arnolde found out he'd probably get even more suspicious. So she decided her best solution was to go to work and just try to keep out of his sight, or at least out of his arm's reach. Despite Ethan and Denise's reassurances that Arnolde's inducing powers were probably limited, she couldn't get rid of the mental image of him forcing her to open a portal to somewhere terrible and then throwing her, or someone she cared about, through it.

She kept to her cubicle and tried to pretend she was working, although she wasn't sure what work she was supposed to be doing anyway. It wasn't like there were any Hero Expense Sheets to reconcile anymore, but thanks to the sluggish nature of bureaucracy, she hadn't been assigned any new responsibilities yet.

Halfway through the morning she looked around suddenly, having the strangest feeling she was being watched. There was no one there, so she turned back to her desk again. A moment later she felt a sharp prick in the back of her neck and she spun around in time to see Arnolde materialize behind her chair, along with a guy from Accounts whose power was to turn himself and anyone he touched invisible.

Arnolde dismissed him with a nod and turned to Tessa. "You will obey whatever command I give you and you will not in any way try to harm me or thwart my plans. Apart from that, you will behave normally so that no one will realize you are under my control."

So what she'd felt in the back of her neck had been him injecting her with Hypnotic's drug!

She was suddenly extremely grateful that Denise had given her the antidote 'just in case'. She also realized that she hadn't asked much about how a person would be expected to act under mind control. At least she had been ordered to act natural, but was she supposed to call him 'Master' or something like that? Worse than that, was he going to order her to do something… unspeakable, which she would have to either obey or risk blowing her cover?

Arnolde didn't seem to be bothered by the way she was simply staring at him, and calmly gave her first order. "I have some traveling to do today, and you will assist me," he announced, handing her a sheet of paper with addresses on them. "Take me to the first location on the list."

Tessa forced herself to not panic and just concentrate on opening a portal to the address, which was the office of a Senator.

What on earth was Arnolde up to?

With each address she took him to, it was the same story. He met with politicians and influential businessmen while Tessa was made to wait outside in elegantly furnished reception areas. To her disappointment she wasn't able to learn anything about Arnolde's latest scheme, but her new assignment gave her a lot of time to think.

When the adrenaline subsided, it occurred to her that Ethan's suspicions were quite right. It seemed that Arnolde's powers were limited, or else he could have simply forced her to take him where he wanted to go instead of using Hypnotic's drug on her. That news would be a great relief to the others, when she told them.

That made her wonder when she would next get a chance to see them, considering she was now supposedly Arnolde's puppet. But surely he would let her go home in the evenings, if he wanted her to appear 'normal'?

Then there was the question of what Arnolde was up to. She could only guess that he was trying to rally support or finance for something or other, but it didn't make sense that the meetings were lasting so long. She knew he was armed with the mind control drug, so she would have expected it to just be a case of injecting each person, ordering them how to cast their votes or what to do with their money, and then moving on to the next one on the list.

Perhaps Arnolde needed to limit his use of the drug for some reason, so he was trying to convince them the normal way first, and only use mind control as a last resort. Maybe he was afraid of running out of the drug. Or, more likely, he was concerned about having too many people all over the country who he'd have to keep injecting with the stuff, considering he was under the impression that it wore off.

It was after 7 o'clock when Arnolde finally asked her to return them to Maxville. When they were there, she stood nervously as he went through some papers, hoping he would dismiss her soon.

After a few minutes her cell phone rang. Without even looking at the caller ID she knew it was probably Will, wanting to know why she hadn't collected the others for the meeting yet, something she couldn't exactly discuss just then. Arnolde strode over to her, and before she could cancel the call he took her phone. She was about to resist but she managed to remember in time that she was supposedly under his control, and she let him have it.

Arnolde took one look at Will's name on the caller ID and handed the phone back to her. "Answer it and tell him you'll call him back in a minute," he ordered.

She answered the phone. "Hi Will, I'll call you back in a minute," she said, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt, and then she hung up and turned to Arnolde anxiously for her next instruction.

"Tell him, using your own words, that you have seen the light and joined my ranks, so you will no longer be one of his Merry Men and that in fact you will be telling me all of their little secrets."

She nodded and then dialed Will's number slowly, even though she had it on speed-dial, trying to play for some time while she thought very quickly about what she was going to say. The last thing she wanted was for Will to think she actually had turned.

As soon as he picked up she started talking before he could say anything. "Hi Will, sorry I'm late for your, uh, Nursery-Warming Party. No actually, I'm not sorry. I don't want to be friends with you guys anymore because you're just getting in the way of Mr. Arnolde's noble plan to save the world, so I'm going to tell him everything you know and what you're planning so he can defeat you."

She hung up without giving him a chance to respond, and just hoped that he'd know she was merely putting on an act.

Arnolde looked at her and nodded in approval. "Obedience is such a virtue. I should have injected you ages ago." He went on with a nasty smirk, "Now, tell me. What do they know and what are they planning?"