A/N: Mwahahahaha! Depression! *grins like a total nutter* No, I'm not doing this because I have trouble writing cheerful characters. I'm doing this because it makes the story's rising action even more interesting!

So sorry this wasn't up yesterday - I had most of it written but I felt sick so I went to bed and didn't wake up until 10 this morning. *bows* Don't kill me, ye few who actually read this crap!

Enjoy the cute Sophie and Rudy bonding at the start of the chapter! In fact, enjoy the whole chapter!

Chapter 24: Ritchie

After my visit from Gabie the crazy lady in white, my memory clears up quite a bit. Some stuff is still sorta foggy so I'll fast forward again. It was three months after the breakup of the team. Rudy and I decided to head out to the next targeted city and possibly confront Keaton if we could. I had decided that maybe doing something like this would help me snap out of it.

Rudy didn't object.

We continued on toward the town with no trouble whatsoever, not even a wave from Henry, whom we didn't encounter though we usually would have. Rudy didn't mind my silence much anymore as I rarely talked, so it surprised him when I opened my mouth and did speak.

"I'm sorry I keep putting you through crap like this, Rudy. But I'm glad you didn't leave when I told you to."

He smiled a bit, "Don't be sorry. I don't mind, and, honestly, you keep my life interesting with the way trouble follows you around like a lost puppy."

I had to smile too, "Yeah, well, that's probably a bad thing, Rudy. If you like the trouble I manage to get into, you need to get your head checked out." I said, giving him a sidelong look.

He turned away from the road for a second and flashed me a grin, "I wouldn't be me if I wasn't a little messed up, now would I? Can you see me being normal?" I shook my head seriously. "Exactly. Now could you stop being such a Negative Nancy and smile a little more often? You're not you unless you're grinning like a cheeky idiot and spinning your cane around."

I felt so much better for that, but I was still depressed as could be. But I couldn't help 'grinning like a cheeky idiot' for most of the trip just because it made Rudy happy. I didn't spin my cane, but I don't think he was expecting me to anyway. He was satisfied with the cheeky grin that usually irritated him and the others to no end because it made me look like I was saying 'I know something you don't and I'll never tell you' - according to them, at least.

Cooper cheered up a little, too, muttering something in Spanish about Rudy being a weirdo but a funny weirdo. Don't ask how I know what she said, but I think it might have something to do with the fact that we're the same person. But no matter the reason, I don't speak Spanish, I just know what she's saying most of the time.

I giggled when we finally got to the town, many hundreds of miles away from our home. Don't ask why, even I'm not sure. Maybe it was the feeling that Keaton was going to show up so I could give him a piece of my mind. I actually started humming 'Marauder's Map' by 'Ministry of Magic', a tribute band to Harry Potter. The song essentially talks about killing Peter Pettigrew.

I just substituted 'Wormtail' with 'Keaton', and I highly suggest you look that song up.

••••••••••••

True to what we had thought, Keaton indeed showed up, and I decided to hinder his progress as much as possible without him knowing it was me. I'm just a cheeky prick like that.

I stole the remote that would set the town's many hidden explosives to blow, which obviously pissed him off, first. I then started taking the explosives back to the van, where Rudy rewired them and literally turned them into fireworks by redirecting the blast into the sky instead of whatever it had been attatched to.

Keaton was fuming, trying his hardest to figure out who had taken his remote. It was hilarious, admittedly, and I used a lot of effort not laughing.

Despite how cheerful that might sound, I was still highly depressed, and I know that because my body was adamant to not do anything, so it was a constant struggle.

Eventually, Rudy had rewired all the explosives - say what you will about the brawn of the teams, he was a genius! - and I set them all back up where they had been, making my way back to where Keaton was camped. He was still there, but he had a friend.

'Oh...no...That's Ritchie!' Cooper yelled. Instead of giving me time to question her, she gave me a flashback.

"Leave Lindsey alone, you big bully!" A six year old version of Rudy yelled. He was quite adorable.

A younger version of the man who'd been with Keaton stuck his tongue out. "What'cha gonna do about it, you baby? Gonna go running to Ms. Penelope?"

Rudy stomped his foot, "Just leave her alone! Ms. Penelope won't do anything anyway!"

Ritchie just rolled his eyes and turned back to Lindsey, who he had pinned to a wall. "Just give me the freakin' tablet, lil girl."

Lindsey shook her head quickly in refusal. Ritchie raised his fist to punch her, but someone caught his arm.

"Maybe you should try picking on someone your own size, Grayson." A young -but deceivingly mature and cold - voice stated.

He turned and brought his other hand around to punch whoever had said it, only for that hand to be caught too. Sophie Cooper stood there with a very calm expression. It was calm enough it was absolutely terrifying to me, even though she was only around eight. In the commotion, Lindsey got away and ran over to Rudy.

"I told ya, the name's Ritchie, Sophie!" Ritchie growled, trying to get free of her grip.

Still completely calm, she appeared to ignore him for a little while. "Lindsey, Rudy, got back to our room. Don't come out until I come back. I'll use the code so you know it's me." The two wasted no time in running up a set of stairs and slamming the door to a room. Cooper turned back to Ritchie. "Yes, Grayson, I know what you told me your name is. But I see no reason why anyone would want to be on first-name basis with you. To me, you're Grayson. And to you, I'm Cooper. We are not friends, do not call me Soph or even Sophie."

Ritchie just rolled his eyes, and Sophie let go of one of his arms, punching him in the gut. Hard. He let out a breath involuntarily.

"Want to try a different answer, Grayson?"

Ritchie straightened himself with a gulp. "Yes, ma'am." He said.

"Good. Now run along and torture someone else. I don't care so long as you leave Lindsey and Rusy alone." She turned away, waving in dismissal.

I was pulled back to reality at that point. I shook my head. "Well obviously he's your bitch, Cooper. What are you saying 'oh no' about?" I whispered.

'He was still in the orphanage when it went down - he should be dead!'

"So are you, but you don't see me complaining."

She sent me the mental image of her shaking her head at me. 'Just surprised, I guess.' She sighed.

I rolled my eyes and directed my attention back down to where Keaton was obviously still yelling at Ritchie Grayson. I chewed on my lip for a moment before letting out a small puff of air akin to a sigh. "I think I'll just break that up."

I made my way part-way down the slope I was on.

"-find that damn remote!" Keaton was saying.

I arched my brows, droping down silently behind him, holding up said remote and leaning back against the slope. "Oh, this remote?"

Both of them looked around, startled. Ritchie saw me first, and, taking in the smirk on my face, poked Keaton and pointed to me. "I think she found it for you."

"More likely that she stole it in the first place." Keaton growled in irritation. "You cause me more trouble than you're worth, Cooper."

In his eyes I could see that he was respecting my wish not to be discovered, even though he wanted to kill me.

I smirked a bit more, pulling off the 'Malfoy' smirk with ease of practice. The Malfoy smirk was relevant to this situation because it made me look like a smug bastard. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Keaton. I don't mean to!" I said sweetly.

"Still to cheeky for your own good, I see. I thought you were dead, Cooper." Ritchie said.

Reminding myself to call him by his last name, I replied, "So did everyone else. Even if I barely remember you, I can't say I missed you, Grayson."

"Barely remember me?" He asked, eyebrows arching.

"Amnesia. Some punk decided it would be nice of them to bash my head into the pavement enough to give me a major concussion." I waved my hand dismissively, "He got what he deserved."

Keaton was still leering at me, "As touching of a reunion as this is, I'd like my remote back so I can set the explosives."

I shrugged and tossed it to him. "Whatever. Not like I've got anything to worry about, I'll be long gone by the time they go off anyway."

Ritchie rolled his eyes, "Same old Cooper, not giving a damn unless it involves Lindsey and Rudy. What happened to those two, anyway? Orphqnage didn't fall on 'em, did it?"

I shook my head, "Nah, I got 'em out. But Lindsey got all pissy cause I punched this bastard in the face and I was ranting about not being able to get a good hit because he's a pansy and he teleported away, so she's MIA." I tried to shrug it off, but after apparently growing up with me, Ritchie seemed to understand the depression behind my voice. "But Rudy's still with me. I don't know if you noticed, but he's not nearly as much of a wimp as I remember him being - the again, the last memory I have of him is from when he was six."

Ritchie nodded, "Yeah, Rudy got really tough after you disappeared - I don't think I've ever seen someone go from total wimp to master martial artist who can lift eight times his own weight in that short of an amount of time."

I shrugged, "I've seen you go from being an asshole to my bitch in point three seconds, I think that's more impressive."

He growled at me, but Keaton interrupted his retort. "Once again, touching as this is, if you truly wish to avoid being blown up, Cooper, I'd suggest you get moving."

I shrugged again. "Whatever. Later Keaton, Grayson."

I pounced easily up the slope in quick jumps. I heard Ritchie gasp a bit when I barely grabbed onto the top of the slope with the tips of my fingers.

••••••••••••

I smiled at Rudy as we sat in the country just a few miles from the city. In front of us, the strangely made fireworks were going off merrily. He smile back.

"Nice thinking, Soph." He said.

Right after he said it, an infuriated scream ripped through the air, obviously a curse, followed by my name. Our smiles widened considerably.

"Really nice thinking." He amended, clapping me on the shoulder.