Ten short minutes later, Gear made his way back to the spot where he and Static had agreed to meet. Despite his best efforts, nothing had turned up. The mall was completely empty—no meta-human to be found.

He figured it was more than likely that Ebon and his gang had already moved on. There was no reason for them to still be at the mall. They probably stole whatever they could and left. Why they had decided to randomly ransack the shopping center at four in the afternoon—well, that was a mystery. They hadn't seen hide nor hair of Ebon in months. Why had he decided to put himself back in the criminal spotlight now? Hotstreak had warned them last Saturday that Ebon knew their identities, but nothing had come of it. Maybe Hotstreak had been lying?

These thoughts continued to occupy him as he approached his partner, who also had appeared to come back empty-handed.

"Find anything?" Gear asked.

His partner shook his head. "Nope. You?"

"Nothin'."

Static glanced around and sighed. "Man, guess we better go back and tell them no one's here."

"Think again, hero."

The duo turned their heads to where the voice had originated from, and what they saw made their eyes practically bulge out of their sockets. Standing on the second floor, near the railing, was none other than Ebon himself, and who he was with someone they would have least expected to be within ten feet of the shadowy meta-human.

"Zoey?! I thought she was at Frieda's," Gear whispered to his partner.

"She must've followed us here," Static responded just as quietly.

Of course, Ebon wasn't stupid, and he noticed that the heroes were muttering something incoherent to one another.

"Listen up, heroes," he demanded.

Static and Gear's heads snapped up to see the gang leader sneering at them, holding Zoey with the crook of his arm wrapped around her neck.

"I'm gonna give it to you straight. Leave me and my crew alone or this little girl is gonna be stayin' with us for a while."

"Not a chance, Ebon!" Static shot back.

Ebon narrowed his eyes. Just the response he had been expecting from the young, cocky superhero.

"You say that now, but what if I told you I could send her on a little tumble."

To demonstrate, Ebon pushed her forwards, holding her upper body over the railing. Zoey yelped, causing the two heroes to flinch.

"What do you want with her anyways, Ebon? It's us you want," Static asked through gritted teeth. At last, one of his biggest fears was coming true: the gang leader had finally gotten to someone he cared about, one of his friends.

"I don't want anything from her. I want you to back off," Ebon answered. "Seems the only way I can do that is to give you some motivation by using one of your little friends here."

Static cocked a brow. Frankly, he didn't know what to do. Zoey was Virgil's friend, yes, but one meet-and-greet at a comic store didn't really constitute a friendship.

"'Friend' is a strong word," he finally said, attempting to play it off. "We barely even know her."

Even though she knew the hero's statement was made to protect her, Zoey couldn't help but feel a small pang of rejection. She knew she wasn't the only fan who held a deep admiration for the heroes, and she knew that they probably had encountered hundreds, if not thousands of fans by now. But the way Static and Gear had spoken to her about her drawings last Saturday had almost made her believe that their relationship was more personal than it was in reality. So to hear the opposite was disappointing.

Meanwhile, Ebon still wasn't convinced. "Nice try, Static, but I know you're lying. You always have a runnin' buddy. Remember Foley?"

Static inwardly cringed. He knew that the whole situation with Richie would come back to bite him eventually. Still, he attempted to play it off.

"Who?"

"Foley. The geeky kid that was always followin' you around all the time."

Of course, despite their situation, Gear couldn't help but feel a tad offended by Ebon's description of his civilian self. "I'm sure he wasn't that geeky—" he began to protest.

However, Ebon wasn't very interested in technicalities at the moment. "And if I'd known any better I'd say this girl's your new homie," he continued, ignoring the genius. "Why else would she be the only other person here other than you?"

Static sighed. He wasn't exactly sure why Zoey was here, but it certainly didn't make the situation look good. Like he had mentioned to Gear, she had probably followed them here, or at least had deduced that the heroes were going to be at the mall after watching the news at Frieda's. Sure, he had sensed that Zoey probably looked up to them based on her interest in drawing them, but he had not been aware of her desire to chase after them in real time.

"Look, Ebon. I don't know anything about this Foley guy or the girl you've got there with you. We met her once, that's it. She doesn't know anything about us, nor do we of her. So you can let her go," he stated firmly.

Again, Ebon wasn't completely convinced that there wasn't any sort of connection between the girl and Static. But even if Static still wasn't willing to confess, she was still a bargaining chip.

"Well, then, since you seem unwilling to talk about it, I got a new proposition for you. Tell me your secret identity and I'll consider letting her go."

"Wait, what?!"

Static desperately glanced over at Gear, who shared his look of confusion. Just last week, Hotstreak had warned them that Ebon knew their identities, yet here Ebon was, demanding they reveal their secret identities to him.

"Don't do it, Static!" Zoey called out.

"You be quiet!" Ebon snarled, tightening his grip on the teenager.

"Hey, you already know our identities," Gear interjected. "Why do we need to tell you?"

"Yeah, Hotstreak tracked us down and told us you knew who we were," Static added. "Seems to me like one of you is lying."

Ebon grunted in irritation. "Hotstreak doesn't know what he's doing. The fool thinks he can get by just playin' and never following through. But unlike Hotstreak, I don't play games," he said, his eyes narrowing at the superheroes. "So either you tell me who you are or the Meta-Breed's gonna have a new houseguest."

"Not gonna happen," Static retorted. So it was true that Ebon didn't actually know their secret identities. Hotstreak had been lying all along. His pops and Sharon were never in any kind of danger. It almost made him breathe a sigh of relief, though the relief was short-lived, as he was reminded that his friend was in trouble.

"Suit yourself," Ebon sneered. "I'll give you chumps some time to think. In the meantime, we'll take her off your hands."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a purple vortex began to form underneath the meta-human and his victim.

Static frantically looked over at his partner. "Gear, we have to grab Zoey!"

As Ebon and Zoey began sinking into the floor, the superhero hopped onto his disc and zipped towards them. He couldn't zap Ebon, as Zoey would be zapped along with him, and he didn't want to hurt her.

Gear, however, was more mechanical in his approach. As he sped towards the pair in his rocket boots, he utilized the robot perched on his back.

"Backpack. Rope. Now."

As commanded, Backpack spun out a black-colored rope from one of its compartments, which Gear quickly grabbed and tossed the other end to Zoey.

"Zoey, grab this!"

As she felt herself sink deeper into the ground, Zoey heard Gear's voice call out to her, followed by the sight of a rope-like object appearing above her. Without hesitation, she grabbed onto it, fully aware that if she did not get out of this situation now, her fate would be compromised.

Feeling some resistance on the rope, Gear knew she had been able to grasp it successfully.

"Static, zap Ebon now!"

Static looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "What?!"

"Just trust me!"

Knowing the genius was hardly ever wrong, Static overcame his instincts and sent a bolt of electricity towards Ebon and his hostage.

Instantaneously the lightning bolt hit the shadow, the pain causing him to lose his grip on Zoey. Gear seized the opportunity to pull her out from the vortex. As he did so, they heard Ebon's chilling voice.

"This ain't over yet, chumps. Catch ya next time."

As quickly as it had formed, the swirling vortex ultimately vanished, leaving no trace of the shadow man.

Meanwhile, Zoey was kneeling on the ground, struggling to catch her breath after the green-clad hero had pulled her out of Ebon's clutches.

"Hey, are you okay?" Gear asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Yeah," Zoey breathed. "Just a little tired, that's all." She didn't want them to think she was weak, even though she felt a bit shaky from all the adrenaline that had been coursing through her.

"That was quite the ordeal you had just now, '' Static said, approaching the two.

He extended a hand to her, and, with him taking one hand and Gear taking the other, the two heroes slowly helped her stand up.

"I'm glad you guys came when you did," she said. Normally the awe of standing in front of Dakota's protectors would have rendered her speechless, but after what she had just gone through, talking with them seemed surprisingly easy.

"So what happened exactly?" Static asked curiously. Out of all the people Ebon could have baited them with, Zoey seemed like the least probable person.

Zoey felt her cheeks grow slightly warm. "Erm, well, I was trying to find you guys, to be honest," she answered. "Then Ebon, or whatever you call him, found me and took me hostage."

"Why were you looking for us?" Gear piped up.

Static noticed the blush spreading across the girl's face and smirked. "That's not a hard one to figure out."

"I wanted to see you guys in person again," she admitted. "It was really cool meeting you guys at the comic book store last week and I just wanted to see you again."

"Well, I think this definitely puts you in the running for our number one fan," Static joked.

The electrified superhero then placed his hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Look, we're flattered that you like us so much. But you almost got yourself into some serious trouble today."

"We wouldn't have been able to live with ourselves if something had happened to you because of us," Gear added.

Static nodded in agreement. "We just want you to be safe."

Zoey sighed. She knew it had been a dumb thing to do to be wandering around the crime-ridden mall, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

"Well, I'm already in serious trouble."

She explained to them how she intentionally dodged the police to get into the mall, and that if her mother found out about it she'd be dead anyways.

"Well, knowing my pops, if I did that I'd be grounded til I was eighty."

Even in the midst of their serious conversation, Zoey's ears immediately perked up. She knew someone else who referred to their father as 'pops.' Wasn't it Virgil who often did that?

"Me too," Gear agreed. He knew all-too-well what it was like to have a strict parent.

"Anyways," Static began, freeing Zoey from her train of thought. "Gear and I will take you home. Unless you wanna be escorted by an officer."

Zoey chuckled nervously. "No thanks, I'm good." Assuming her mother was home from work already, she did not want to be seen with a cop.

And with that, the trio began their not-so-long trek out of the mall, then to Zoey's house.

At first, Zoey had braced herself for an awkward walk home with the superheroes, but, as they had proven at the comic book store, Static and Gear were pretty chill guys. She was quite comfortable conversing with them, like she had known them for some time. In fact, their dynamic seemed oddly familiar.

"There's my house," Zoey finally said as they approached the end of a street. Static and Gear followed her gaze and saw a nice-looking townhome standing on the corner. They had never actually been to Zoey's house in the eight months that they had known her, so it was interesting to know what her living situation was like.

"Nice place," Gear remarked.

"Thanks. My mom spent a lot of time trying to find a house for us after she and my dad got divorced," she explained. Not that they probably cared, but it felt nice to reveal something personal about herself to the ones who had saved her. It made her feel like they were more like friends, rather than mere acquaintances.

Suddenly, she was struck with an alarming realization. "Oh no, I forgot my backpack at the mall!" she exclaimed. She frantically reached behind her to double-check, and sure enough, her backpack was missing. "I must've dropped it when Ebon attacked me."

Static and Gear glanced at one another with uncertainty. Neither of them were too eager to return to the mall, but Zoey needed her stuff.

"That's okay, Zoe, we can go back and get it," Static said.

Gear nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's no biggie. It's probably easier for us to get it than for you to walk all the way back there anyways."

Zoey smiled nervously. "Yeah, probably." Even though the police had begun to clear the mall area after a brief discussion with the superheroes regarding Ebon's whereabouts, she didn't want to chance running into an officer alone, especially the one she had purposely dodged.

Static pulled out his disc from underneath his cape. "Come on, Gear, let's go," he said, hopping onto the piece of metal.

"Right behind you, bro."

Gear gave Zoey one last look of reassurance before following the former's lead.

As he turned away, Zoey caught a glimpse of the techie's short blond hair peeking out from underneath his helmet. She hadn't really taken note of it before but, come to think of it, her friend Richie had that exact same hairstyle. Did all geeky blondes wear their hair like that? Not that it was anything special, as many guys wore their hair short, but it struck her as kind of funny.

Either way, she prayed Static and Gear would be able to find it. Not only did it have her homework, but it had her school ID and, most importantly, her sketchbook. She had worked so hard on some of those drawings that it'd be devastating for her to lose them.

At least the mall was closed, so there wasn't anyone there to steal it.