"Phew, that was quite the close call at lunch," Virgil sighed as he and Richie walked home from school that afternoon.
As usual, Frieda had tried to convince the guys to stay for her journalism club meeting after school, but Virgil had declined, partly because he wasn't remotely interested in journalism in general. The other part was that he wanted to keep as much distance from the girls as they possibly could, as they didn't want to tip off Ebon and the other bang-babies that they interacted regularly with the Tsunami Trio, in case the gang was still keeping tabs on them.
"I'll say," the blond boy agreed. "Of course, Frieda would have to jump in and give her two cents. Guess we should expect that by now."
Virgil rolled his eyes, recalling the conversation with their female friends. "It didn't used to be this hard to keep things a secret. Now it seems like everyone's up in our business."
Richie thought for a moment. "I'll admit it does seem kinda suspicious," he finally said. "I mean, Hotstreak was looking for us a couple weeks ago, and now the girls find out that we've had a run-in with Ebon after Zoey just had a run-in with him. It does make it seem like the bang-babies are targeting us."
"The good thing is, the girls haven't found out why they're targeting us," Virgil answered. "The bad thing is, we don't know why they're targeting us either."
Richie shrugged. "All we really know is that Ebon thinks we're connected to Static and Gear somehow."
"Do you think Zoey suspects that, too?" the electric superhero asked.
Richie shrugged again. "Don't know. She seemed pretty interested in me—" he froze, realizing how that must've sounded. "—I mean in terms of Ebon putting two-and-two together."
Virgil raised a brow playfully. "Riiight. Well, let's just hope that's the last we've seen of him for a while, considering he didn't get what he wanted."
"True dat," Richie agreed. "Let's just hope he doesn't go after anyone else that talks to us."
The juvenile detention center was quiet as the Meta-Breed waited for their leader to return from his mission.
Hotsteak, Shiv and Kangorr were playing cards at the table while, on the other side of the room, Talon was perched on the couch, reading a magazine of some kind.
"Got any fours?" Hotstreak asked his companions.
"No," both Kangorr and Shiv echoed in unison.
"Any fives?"
"No."
"Figures," the pyromaniac grumbled as he slumped in his seat. Even if they weren't playing the game right, he still wanted to win.
"Got any sevens?" Shiv asked.
Hotsteak glanced at his cards, and, to his dismay, saw that he, indeed, had a seven.
"Here, take 'em," he grunted in frustration. "I swear you have, like, telepathy or somethin'."
That's when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that Shiv was holding his knife-like hands in an odd fashion.
"Hey, why do you have your hands like that?" he demanded.
Shiv glanced over at him, his expression suddenly sheepish, like a child that had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been.
"No reason," he answered.
But it was too late. Hotsteak already knew something was up.
"Are you cheating?"
"No!"
However, it quickly became apparent that the blue-haired meta-human had been using his knife-hands as a mirror to peek at his competitors' cards.
Hotstreak's eyes glowed. "So you were cheating!" he growled. "I can't stand cheaters!"
"Was not!"
Talon, hearing the commotion, glanced up from her magazine and frowned
"Stop it, you two!" she exclaimed. "Ebon's gonna freak out if—"
"If what?" a voice finished.
The sound of their leader's return immediately silenced the bickering gang members.
Sure enough, Ebon materialized in the middle of the room, his expression unreadable.
"Nothing. What'd you find out?" the bird girl asked, attempting to redirect the conversation.
Ebon's eyes narrowed. "She sits with Foley and Hawkins and these two other chicks at lunch."
Shiv's eyes widened. "Foley?! Isn't he the guy that was following Static around a while ago?"
"Exactly," Ebon answered. "And I'm thinking there may be a connection between her and Static. If Foley was a running buddy and she hangs around him, she must know somethin' too."
Hotstreak folded his arms skeptically. "Not trying to be disrespectful or anything, but why would she know anything just because she hangs out with Foley?"
"Maybe they're dating," Shiv interjected. "Couples tell each other everything."
Talon glared at her outspoken crew member. "Or just friends."
"But why not take the direct approach and nab Foley?" Hotstreak continued, ignoring his teammates. "Why go through all this trouble for some girl we don't even know for sure knows Static?"
"'Cause someone's gotta tip off Static that we nabbed one of his own," Ebon answered. "And since we know for sure that Foley knows Static, there's no doubt he's gonna tell the zero hero we have ourselves a little houseguest. If we nab Foley, we can't be sure Parker will tattle."
The rest of the group nodded in understanding, except for Shiv.
"Then why not just kidnap Static himself?" he asked.
"Because trying to nab Static is like trying to grab air. He always gets away," Ebon replied, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. "But if we grab his running buddy, he'll have no choice but to surrender."
The group nodded. To be honest, they were all a bit skeptical about how this was going to play out, but they weren't about to admit that to their leader, who seemed quite determined to follow through with whatever he was plotting.
Hotstreak frowned. "Let's just hope things go according to plan."
Zoey's mind was racing as she walked to Dakota Union High the following morning. She had barely gotten any sleep the night before, due to her obsessing over how she was going to ask Virgil and Richie about their encounter with Ebon.
Despite spending hours ruminating over the whole Ebon situation, the details still didn't add up to her. Why would the meta-human be going after her and Virgil and Richie? Because he wanted to know Static and Gear's secret identities. But why would he be targeting a handful of teenagers—the three of them specifically?
Zoey remembered Virgil telling Frieda that Static and Gear 'had their backs' after Hotstreak had come looking for them a couple weeks ago. So that meant Virgil and Richie must've been pretty close with Static and Gear to incite his wrath. And Ebon had said that Foley was Static's 'running buddy,' which must've meant a sidekick. But wasn't Static's partner Gear? Or were Virgil and Richie extra sidekicks? Either that or the boys had a track record for offending meta-humans. First Hotstreak, then Ebon.
But Zoey herself had never interacted with Ebon prior to the mall incident, yet she still had been a target. It was possible that she had just been used as bait, nothing more. But like she had told her friends at lunch yesterday, Ebon had seemed pretty convinced that she knew something about them.
The only thing she had in common with Static and Gear was Virgil and Richie. That must've been why he had gone after her. But if that was the case, then Virgil and Richie were in serious danger. Because if Ebon had gone after her, it was only a matter of time before he would go after them.
She needed to speak with them immediately.
Her footsteps grew more urgent as she approached the school grounds. Surprisingly, she was early today so there wasn't too much activity, which probably meant that Virgil and Richie weren't there yet. Upon realizing this, she slowed down, figuring she'd meet up with them when they arrived.
Towards the edge of the school grounds, there was a small picnic area, consisting of a couple benches underneath a large tree. Zoey decided that she would sit there and wait for her two male friends to show up.
However, as she neared the picnic area, she noticed a purple-colored object sitting against the trunk of the tree. As she drew closer, she realized, to her disbelief, that it was a backpack. Her missing backpack.
How in the world did it get here?
Still in shock, she knelt down to get a closer look. She started to unzip the main pocket when, all of a sudden, she heard a familiar, chilling voice echo in her ears.
"Got you."