5 years later...
Happy new year everyone! Wow, it's been FIVE whole years since I updated this story, and SEVEN whole years since I started this story. Crazy how time flies. I just wanted to let you guys know that, starting this year, I am continuing this story. I already have had the sequels to this story in my mind, so I figured I would at least finish this one, eventually. I understand if you all have lost interest at this point, lol, since it's been so long. I started writing this in highschool and now I'm 2 years post-grad so it's getting a bit harder for me to get inside the mind of a highschooler but we're gonna try. I accept the challenge. So anyways, here's a new chapter, yay!
It was finally Friday. Fortunately, for Virgil and Richie, the week continued on as normal, despite Ebon's "big scare." None of Hotsteak's threats had yet come true since the comic book store incident last Saturday. Every single night that week, Virgil had made a point of checking on his sister and father at least once, just to make sure Ebon and his gang hadn't gotten ahold of them. Even Richie had checked on his folks a few times. However, by the end of the week, both the heroes were starting to doubt if what the former bully had said was even true. Because if Ebon actually knew their secret identities, they were sure he would've used them to his advantage by now. So what was he waiting for?
Therefore, by the end of the week, Virgil and Richie were beginning to relax a bit. Enough so, that when Frieda invited them over to her house to hang out that afternoon, they readily agreed. This wasn't an uncommon thing for their friend to do, as Frieda was always itching to be social on the weekends. Of course, Daisy and Zoey were also included in the plans, however, Frieda had the mentality of 'the bigger group, the better.'
So when the final bell rang, everyone had agreed to meet up at the entrance of Dakota Union High before they made the trek to Frieda's.
Frieda had found Zoey gathering her belongings at her locker, and once she was set, the two girls had made a point to stop at Daisy's locker to pick her up. The Tsunami Trio then headed out, only to spot the boys chatting at one of the picnic tables.
"It's been six whole days, and we haven't seen sight of Ebon or any of the Meta-Breed," Virgil said.
Richie nodded. "I know, it's weird. It's like they vanished into thin air."
"Virgil! Richie!" a voice called out to them.
They looked up and saw Frieda and the girls walking over to them.
"Hey guys," Frieda said as trio approached. "Ready to go?"
Virgil playfully rolled his eyes. "That depends. Got any good snacks?"
Frieda scoffed as though she were offended by his remark. "Of course I do. My mom bought some stuff yesterday, specifically for us."
Richie grinned. "Well that's good to know," he said, giving his buddy a nudge.
"Here we are," Frieda said as she opened the front door to her house.
As per usual, the group was greeted by a model home-esque interior. Everything had been meticulously arranged: the pictures hanging on the walls were spaced out evenly with precision, the books on the bookshelf were stacked neatly and in alphabetical order, and the glass coffee table in the living room was so spotless it was practically glittering. There wasn't a single speck of dust in sight.
"Sorry if it's a bit messy, I didn't get the chance to tidy up this morning," Frieda said, causing Virgil and Richie to exchange amused looks.
One by one, everyone placed their backpacks near the front door so they wouldn't forget them when they left.
Of course, being the good hostess she was, Frieda made a beeline for the fridge. "What would everyone like to drink and eat?" she asked.
"I'll take a Dr. Pepper. Oh, and some potato chips, please," Virgil answered.
"Make that two," Richie piped up.
"Water for me. And maybe a granola bar, if you got any," Daisy said.
"Zoey, you want anything?" Frieda asked.
Zoey thought for moment. "I'll have a Mountain Dew. And some chips."
Dutifully, Frieda gathered her friends' requested food items and brought them over to the coffee table, where the gang had made themselves comfortable. Zoey, Richie, and Virgil had taken the couch while Daisy had parked herself in one of the recliner chairs alongside the couch. She set the snacks down and plopped down in the other recliner chairs on the other side of the couch, next to Zoey.
"I'm so glad you guys are here," Frieda said.
"So are we," Virgil replied, eagerly opening up a bag of chips. It was clear that food was his top priority.
"So what do you guys wanna do then?" Daisy asked, glancing around the room.
Richie shrugged. "Anything's fine by me."
"Careful, Richie," Virgil said as he began munching on chips. "If you say that, they might make us do our hair and nails."
Daisy huffed in indignance. "You think that's the only thing girls do when they hang out together, Virgil?"
"Well, have you ever gone to Frieda's when it was just you girls and not done your hair and nails?"
Daisy opened her mouth, preparing to retaliate, then paused. "Good point."
"Yeah, and no doubt you've dragged Zoey into the world of makeovers," Richie added, turning to the girl sitting next to him. "Our condolences."
Zoey laughed. "It's okay, I actually enjoy them."
Once Richie's attention had turned back to his snack, she lightly touched her face, noticing the temperature in the room had suddenly grown quite warm. Was she blushing?
The sound of Frieda's voice broke through her thoughts. "I have a foozball table downstairs if you guys wanna play," she suggested.
"I'm in," Virgil said, taking one last swig of his soda.
"Same here," Richie agreed.
"Yeah, I'm down," Daisy said.
Zoey nodded. "Me too."
Frieda glanced around the room, and, seeing her everyone was in agreement, stood up and motioned her friends to follow. "Foozball it is."
"Now, I say we do teams," Frieda said.
Frieda's basement was finished, and was definitely set up as a 'man-cave' of sorts. When you first walked down, there there was an entertainment center directly to the right, with a large TV and a long, L-shaped couch, large enough to accommodate several people. Directly behind the couch, was, in fact, the foozball table, and behind that, the entire back wall was being used as a bar, which consisted of a long granite countertop and matching stools.
"Teams are good," Virgil said.
'"In that case, I pick Virgil!" Daisy said, practically yanking the teen towards the table.
Richie turned towards the other two girls. "Well, I guess that leaves the three of us then."
"Actually, I'll sit this one out," Frieda said. "It's too crowded to do a team of three, plus you're the guests, so you two can do it."
Zoey met the eyes of Frieda, who gave her a nod of encouragement. She wasn't exactly sure why Frieda had allowed her and Richie to team up, but then again, the her friend's logic did make sense. She was probably overthinking it.
Richie then turned to Zoey. "How about it, Zoe? Ready to annihilate Virgil and Daisy?"
Zoey met the blond teen's gaze and smiled. "Let's do it."
"Oh my gosh, Richie, you and Zoey are killing it!" Frieda exclaimed.
Within the first few minutes of the 'competition,' everyone had agreed that the game would go up to 10 points. That way, the game wouldn't be too long, yet, at the same time, would allow for some 'friendly' competition.
Richie and Zoey were already at eight points, whereas Virgil and Daisy were only at three, indicating the game would soon be over, unless Virgil and Daisy were miraculously able to catch up.
Their hopes of taking the lead were quickly diminishing as Richie and Zoey made, yet, another goal.
"What sort of witchcraft is this?!" Virgil exclaimed as they heard the tiny plastic ball fall into his and Daisy's goal.
"Ha, I believe the word you're looking for, Virgil, is 'skill,'" Richie teased, pushing his glasses up in a humorous fashion.
"No, I don't think it was, Richie," Virgil retorted. "More like ' beginner's luck' if you ask me."
Daisy turned to her teammate. "Don't worry, Virgil, we can still win this. We just gotta bring our A-game."
Virgil shook his head, pretending to act surprised. "I thought we already were bringing our A-game!"
Richie tilted his head towards Zoey, putting one hand beside his mouth as though he were about to reveal a secret. "Don't worry, Zoe, we got 'em right where we want 'em," he whispered, loud enough for Virgil to shoot him a glare across the table.
"Oh, it's on."
Unfortunately, for Virgil and Daisy, the competition hadn't lasted for much longer. Before they knew it, Zoey had passed the ball towards Richie, who shot it into Virgil and Daisy's goal before the pair could react.
"Aaand that's a wrap!" Richie announced proudly, dusting the imaginary dirt off his hands.
Meanwhile, Virgil stood with his mouth agape at his team's instant loss.
"Good job guys!" Frieda congratulated the blond and his female teammate.
Daisy, who was taking her opponent's victory more gracefully, approached the other team and gave them each a high-five.
"Great job guys! I didn't know you both were good at foozball," she said.
Richie smiled sheepishly. "I didn't either. Guess I have a good partner," he answered, turning to the newest girl in the group. "We make a good team."
Zoey smiled, feeling her face grow strangely warm at her teammate's remark. "Yeah, I guess so."
At the same time, Virgil had finally managed to break free from his stupor. "No way, I demand a rematch ."
"I don't know, I'm getting kind of bored of this," Daisy said. "We should watch a movie or something."
Frieda thought for a moment. "A movie sounds good," she concluded. "What do you guys wanna watch?"
"Oh, let's watch Saw. It's a classic," Virgil piped up, his desire for another round of foozball quickly diminishing at the prospect of watching his favorite movie of all-time.
Of course, the rest of the group crinkled their noses at the idea.
"How about the Princess Diaries? Daisy suggested. "It's only, like, my favorite movie ever!"
As expected, the boys weren't too thrilled with that idea.
"How about Batman?" Richie suggested. "It has action, suspense, and a little bit of romance for the ladies."
Frieda and Daisy rolled their eyes at the 'romance ' part of Richie's statement, as if that was the only aspect of a movie the guys thought they, as females, cared about.
Nonetheless, seeing that it was going to be impossible to decide on a program that would cater to everyone's tastes equally, Frieda sighed. "Fine."
Everyone huddled around the television while Frieda began rummaging through the cabinet of VHS tapes her family owned, just to make sure she actually had the movie.
Daisy took a seat on the couch next to Virgil, who was already sitting next to Richie. Zoey looked at her seating options and thought Frieda probably would want to sit next Daisy, therefore, she concluded that sitting on the other end of the couch, next to Richie, would be the most logical choice.
"Have you seen this movie, Zoey?" The blond himself asked as she took a seat beside him, catching her off guard.
"Uh, yeah, I watched it with my dad once when I was younger. I don't remember much about it though," she explained. "We weren't really allowed to watch stuff like that since my mom thought it would mess up our brains."
Richie nodded, feeling sympathetic. He knew what it was like to grow up with overbearing parents. "Oof, that's rough."
Zoey didn't usually share much about herself, therefore, it was interesting to him to hear her talk about her upbringing. He was curious to know more, but before he could ask her anything else, the sound of Frieda's voice captured everyone's attention.
"Found it!" she said, as she pulled out a VHS with an illustration of Batman, Catwoman and Penguin on the front cover. "Well, you guys are in luck. My dad likes these kind of movies so I'm not surprised we have it."
"Your dad has good taste," Virgil remarked. "I love Batman, he's a cool guy."
He glanced over at Richie, who flashed him a knowing smirk. Zoey noticed this exchange, wondering what secret dialogue her two guy friends were having. What's so special about a Batman movie?
She didn't have too much time to think about it because, while all of this was going on, Frieda had turned on the television, which was tuned in to the local news. And what was on it caught everyone's attention.
"Wait a minute!" Virgil exclaimed, causing the girl to pause and glance up at what was happening on the screen.
"Numerous sources have reported that several meta-humans are wreaking havoc inside the Dakota City Mall. This particular group of meta-humans make up a local gang known as the Meta-Breed."
Images of the perpetrators began flashing on the screen, starting with Ebon, then Hotstreak, Talon, Shiv and Kangorr, who appeared to be in different areas of the mall, robbing and vandalizing various stores, while civilians were frantically exiting the premises.
"Oh no, looks like Ebon and his crew are at it again," Daisy said.
After a few seconds of watching the footage, Virgil managed to tear his eyes away from the screen only to meet Richie's, whose expression also reflected concern. Both the heroes were sitting on their hands, desperate for an excuse to leave on such short notice.
"Ugh, just because they're bang-babies they think they're entitled to everything. It infuriates me," Frieda said, folding her arms in disgust.
Meanwhile, Zoey stared at the TV screen, in complete disbelief at what she was watching. She had never actually seen other meta-humans besides Hotstreak. Thanks to her friends, she knew they existed, but for a girl who lived in the suburbs all her life—to move to a crowded city such as Dakota, and on top of that, have these mutated people running around—it was a lot to process. Granted, she had only been in Dakota for eight months, so she wasn't used to the idea just yet, but a part of her didn't think she would ever get used to it.
"I'm surprised Static and Gear haven't shown up yet," Daisy remarked. "You'd think they would've gotten there by now."
At the same time, Virgil could practically feel beads of sweat forming on his brow at the stress he was experiencing. He and Richie needed to get out of there.
"I-I just remembered, me and Richie said we'd go help my pops at the community center tonight," he blurted out, causing the girls to turn and look at him curiously.
"Oh, that's right. I totally forgot about...that," Richie chimed in, sounding less than convincing.
Virgil then stood up, with Richie following his example. "Guess we'll see you girls on Monday."
Frieda narrowed her eyes at the two boys. She knew Virgil and Richie had a habit of suddenly disappearing for reasons unbeknownst to her. And she had a feeling that this time was no exception.
Before she could interrogate them, however, they had already zipped up the stairs.
"Virgil! Richie!" she shouted after them.
But it was no use. Not even thirty seconds had passed before she heard her front door shut.
"Forget it."
"I wonder where those two actually go," Daisy said.
"Well, wherever it is, it's certainly way more important than here," Frieda huffed.
Zoey observed the exchange between the two girls. After hanging around them for several months now, she was well-acquainted with Virgil's and Richie's disappearing act. And while a part of her wondered where the boys had run off to, she was more interested in the bang-baby activity currently happening at the mall. Static and Gear could be arriving to save the day at any moment, and she didn't want to miss a chance at seeing the heroes in action.
Without even giving it a second thought, Zoey rose from her seat on the couch, the shift in movement causing Frieda and Daisy to turn and look at her.
"I have to go," she said.
Frieda's eyes widened in surprise. First Virgil and Richie, now Zoey?
"Why? Where are you going?" she asked.
"Um..." Zoey glanced around nervously, trying to think of an excuse. "...I have to help my mom make dinner." It sounded reasonable enough.
Frieda sighed in defeat. Her afternoon with her friends had come to a screeching halt.
"Okay. Well, thanks for coming over," she said.
Zoey nodded, acknowledging Frieda's statement. "Thanks for having me." She waved at the two girls before she made a beeline for the stairs. "See you guys on Monday!"
Once upstairs, she quickly gathered her backpack, which was sitting next to the front door. Slinging the backpack over her shoulder, she practically flung the front door open and raced outside.
She felt kind of guilty for leaving on such short notice, especially after Virgil and Richie had bailed, but she was determined to catch a glimpse of Dakota's famous heroes. Because wherever trouble was, they'd be sure to follow.
And so would she.