"So Warren," Zach said, as they all merged back into a group in the center of the room. "Does this mean you've come back from the dark side officially now?"

Warren appeared un-amused by his choice of wording, but nodded.

"Of course he is!" Layla said for him. "He saved Will, you guys all heard."

Will put in his support too. "Yeah. I might not have made it if it weren't for Warren."

"That's great and all," Magenta said. "But, Warren, why did you join your dad in the first place?"

Warren merely shrugged. "Seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Guess I was wrong."

"No kidding." Zach muttered, quickly zipping his lips as Warren glared at him.

"Not trying to be picky, but there's not going to be any more flip-flopping of sides, is there?" Magenta asked, giving Warren a harsh look.

Warren shook his head firmly. "No. It was my dad who sought me out in the beginning. I decided I ought to at least give it a shot. But it didn't work out, and I'm not going to try it again."

He looked around, as if almost expecting someone to challenge him, but there were merely a couple of nods, and silence.

"Well then." Warren stated. "We've got some bad news."

"That Barren Battle had captured Will, and we just barely managed to escape him?" Magenta asked.

Warren looked like he had a choice response, but Ethan beat him to it. "No. Will took the purgo potestas, didn't he?" Ethan shook his head. "We were too late."

"You knew?" Will asked, his head jerking towards Ethan in surprise.

"Well, guessed." Ethan explained. "It was Zach who figured it out. We were coming to stop you, to tell you not to do it. I'm sorry we came too late."

"Yeah Will." Layla said. "We should have been there for you."

"No, guys, it's okay." Will said, smiling a little despite himself. "You're – well, you're sort of right, but you're not. I was thinking of taking the purgo potestas, but then, I decided not to."

"Really?" Zach asked incredulously. "Good for you man!"

"Will came to the right decision on his own." Magenta said sarcastically. "Imagine that."

"But there's still the bad news." Warren interrupted. "Will still doesn't have his powers."

"What? How?"

"Well, I still took the purgo potestas – when I didn't know it. Rena gave it to me."

"Rena?"

"Yeah." Will said with a pang. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to process Rena's betrayal, but it stung. He had trusted her. He had thought she understood him. But she had been playing him all along. Was that all that ever happened to him, people duping him, taking advantage of him?

"Turns out she was working for Battle all along, trying to get me to get rid of my powers. When she figured out that wasn't going to work, she slipped it into my drink."

The rest of them stood silent, staring at him, the horror evident in their eyes. He had been stripped of his powers, possibly the worst thing they, or he, could imagine. What on earth would his parents say . . .

"It'll be okay Will." Ethan said bracingly. "We can reverse it."

"We can?" Will asked, raising his head. "Really?" He had done some research, naturally, in the past weeks, but that had all been in the effects of taking it. He had simply assumed that it was permanent.

"Well, I hope so. How long ago did you take it?"

"I'm not sure – an hour or two?"

"Alright, see? It hasn't been in your system very long, and you can't have had very much, especially if it was diluted in a drink. Was it a coke?"

"Yeah." Will said, staring at Ethan. "How'd you know?"

"There was a bottle on the floor of the warehouse. It seemed a bit out of place. It was mostly full though – how much of it did you drink?"

"Definitely no more than half of it." Will said, beginning to be reassured.

"Do you think you'll be able to fix – well, get him his powers back, Ethan?" Layla asked, a bit anxiously.

"I think so." Ethan said. "It should work on the same basic principle as reversing other naturally unstable elements, and I've done that before in chemistry club. Does Battle have a lab or something around here?"

"Not really, but he has a cabinet with some chemicals and stuff in it." Warren said. "Here, I'll show you."

As Warren and Ethan walked across the room, the door opened yet again. All heads turned towards it. At first, it seemed as though no one was there, and Will was reminded with an awful pang of Sam – who had been able to turn invisible.

Then he caught a sight of a reed white and blue ball, tumbling across the floor. Wait – that couldn't be his dad, could it –

"Hi – ya!" came a high voice, as a figure popped to his feet, arms extended in a ridiculous offensive stance. "All American Boy, present for action!"

"Mr. Boy!" Layla cried out. "You came!"

Mr. Boy glanced around the room, slowly realizing that there was no villain to fight.

"Layla." He said instead, tugging his small mask off. "Good to see you, safe and sound. It appears that there is no threat to compromise here at the moment. But one can never be too careful!"

"Barren Battle escaped, Mr. Boy." Ethan explained.

"Yeah! We scared him off!" shouted Zach excitedly, still attached to Magenta's side.

"We're so glad you could come, Mr. Boy." Layla said earnestly.

"Well, I may only be a high school teacher now, but you know what they say. Once a hero, always a hero."

No one felt the urge to remind Mr. Boy that he had always been a sidekick.

"So I suppose that the next step would be to secure the perimeter until the authorities – that is to say, the other heroes – they're in Australia at the moment, you see – but I have notified them, and have been assured that they will be arriving presently – get here." Mr. Boy said, looking around with his hands on his hips, and nodded a few times. "Well, it seems that everything is in order here."

"Actually, Mr. Boy." Ethan said, clutching several containers filled with different colored liquids to his chest. "We have another problem."

"Problem?" Mr. Boy's voice came out as a squeak, and his eye twitched. He cleared his throat. "Problem? Where?"

"It's me, sir." Will spoke up. Mr. Boy turned to look at him, his bright blue eyes intent. The costume really did make them pop. Will gulped. "I – I've lost my powers."

"Lost – lost your powers? What do you mean?"

"He was slipped some purgo potestas." Ethan explained.

Mr. Boy's expression turned grave. "Maybe you and I should have a talk Will."

Will sat next to Mr. Boy, wondering what he was in for. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if his parents came back and he had lost his powers. He stared across the room, watching the others, Ethan excepting, working on disarming the booby traps placed around the building, which had been Mr. Boy's suggestion, and had turned out to be quite a good one. Barren Battle had apparently placed quite a few around his hideout. Will was wondering how the others had managed to avoid them all.

"Will." Mr. Boy said seriously. "You're very lucky. Not only did you avoid death at Barren Battle's hands, when you were powerless, that alone is a great feat, but Barren Battle also apparently only drugged you with a very small dose of purgo potestas."

It hadn't actually been Battle though, Will remembered, but Rena. On Battle's orders, of course. He didn't correct Mr. Boy.

"You also have Ethan here, who has a hope of fixing it. But ingesting purgo potestas is very serious business. Now, if Ethan manages to cure it, I won't tell anyone – lord knows I wouldn't want to cause Josie – or you - or the Commander, of course – any more trouble. But what's even more serious is how Battle was able to get it to you. Now Will, I know you spent only a few days in my class, so you have an excuse, but one of the first things I teach my freshman hero support – well, used to – was never, ever, to accept a drink from a known super-villain. Now, I know it might be tempting, if it's a hot day, and –"

Will couldn't take it any longer. "No, Mr. Boy, I didn't get it from Battle – well, not directly. I didn't go looking for him or anything."

"I'm sorry Will, I thought you said Battle gave it to you."

"Well, he did, through someone else."

"Am I allowed to ask who?"

"It – it was a girl. Just a normal girl, who he got to work for him. Rena."

Mr. Boy looked at him quizzically. "Just a normal girl?" he inquired.

Will felt himself sweating profusely. Was it possible that people ever developed new powers after taking purgo potestas? Such as super sweat? Because that was sure like what Will felt he had now. Mr. Boy had never been the most observant of people – was he really that obvious?

"She was completely normal." Will said, but couldn't help adding in. "I thought she was my friend."

"Ah." Mr. Boy said, nodding as if this explained everything. "Love can make you do strange things, Will."

"What? I never said –"

"I know, but there are all types of love. Love for your friends is just as important. Maybe even more so. But at some point, Will, you have to decide where people stand with you. You have to make a choice – which people you would sacrifice your lives for. And in those cases, it sometimes helps to know which ones would also sacrifice their lives for you."

Mr. Boy didn't say anything else, but Will felt his eyes drawn irresistibly to the other side of the room, where the others were standing. His friends. The ones who had charged straight into Barren Battle's lair because they were worried about him.

Will sighed. Mr. Boy may not have been the best super as far as actual crime-fighting was involved. Will wasn't even sure what his power was. But Mr. Boy had stood by his dad through thick and through thin when he had been his sidekick, and that was something Will could definitely learn from.

"Is that why you weren't worried about Warren being with us?" Will asked, feeling that he was finally beginning to understand. "Because you knew he was out friend?"
"What?" Mr. Boy asked. "Why would I be worried?"

"Uh, just because Warren's been with Battle, and stuff."

"He has?" Mr. Boy asked, aghast. "No!"

"You know what? Never mind." Will said. "I was mistaken anyway."