Whew! Well here goes chapter 3!!! Please, enjoy, and review, as always.

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Chapter 3: "On the Inside"

Fridays were a godsend… The best day of the week for a number of reasons:

First off, Friday signaled the end of the workweek, the end of the schoolwork, and the beginning of the weekend… a long length of time in which to procrastinate and focus on fun!

Well, that's what it meant to most normal teenagers. V and I though had the added responsibility of being Dakota's resident superheroes, protecting the city from the 'meta-human menace.'

Weekends were reserved for prime crime-fighting time.

We had been working so hard lately, however, that we decided we'd try to take it easy this weekend.

Okay, actually more like I suggested and made Virgil go along with it.

But we had already put away most of the really dangerous, really busy bang babies! Honestly, without class, they have way too much downtime… So this weekend was like the perfect opportunity to just relax and hang out, without the ominous dread of something coming up. So we planned the trip to Dakota Springs and I was going to sleep over for the weekend, naturally.

And that brings up the other reason Fridays were the best.

I was at Virgil's house pretty much every day anyways and on Fridays I regularly spent the night. It was my chance not only to get away from the drudgery that home sometimes can be, but also to just hang out.

It was like sacred time reserved for just the two of us.

I mean, we worked together as Static and Gear normally; however the superhero gig, as exciting and adventurous as it may be, also had its dangers and was really stressful. I always tried to make the most of those situations… but it was definitely not the same as just being able to hang out with my best bud, vegetating in front of the T.V., and shooting the breeze about the latest comic book releases.

You just couldn't trade such simplicity for anything else.

We sat in Virgil's living room, sprawled luxuriously on the couch. V was flipping through the channels, apparently not looking for anything in particular since he barely paused long enough to see what was on. The feeling of boredom slowly began to pervade the atmosphere. It was as if the quiet heaviness that we mutually felt was beginning to sit on us.

V finally landed on something…a cartoon.

"Oh, hey, it's that Thunder Guy cartoon," he settled in and dropped the remote between us.

"Thunder Guy? That show is totally lame V…"

His head spun in my direction, dreads flailing about in the quick motion. "Are you trippin'? That was my favorite show—"

"…when you were ten," I finish for him. "Come on, Virg, haven't your tastes matured since then?" I shot him a devilish grin as I dodge the pillow thrown at me.

"You should talk, Mr. Ninja Space Cats!"

My smile fades and I rolled my eyes. "I'll let that slide, since you obviously have a bias towards guys that have your same electromagnetic charm."

"And you have a bias for stupid, cheesy cat cartoons."

I looked at him in mocking disbelief. "Hey, the Ninja Space Cats were a thousand times better than Thunder Guy. There were four of them and only one of him. See? Quadruple the fun."

"Quadruple the stupidity," he said; his own devious grin spreading across his face.

I knew where this was going.

"I bet," I said, clutching at the pillow he threw at me, "that if Thunder Guy took on the Ninja Space Cats, he'd get his butt royally whooped." I saw Virgil opening his mouth for more... "And…and I bet he couldn't even take on Master Monkey, either."

"He'd take on the Space Cats, Master Monkey, and have room left over to kick Boogie Devil's butt too. And what?" Virgil made a wide gesture with his arms and cocked his head arrogantly.

I cup my hand over my mouth in mock surprise, "Oh them sounds like fightin' words!"

"Take it or leave it."

"Enguarde."

After a brief moment of staring, our pillows met in a furious instant.

We attempted to whack each other with the pillows, dodging and ducking while trying to get in cheap shots from underneath or overhead. I backed away off the couch and made a swipe with mine, which he dodged by rolling backwards off the couch. I ran around the back of the sofa and tried to pound him with one, heavy blow. He rolled to the left just as my finishing strike missed him, retaliating with his own attack, hitting my head with his own weapon.

"Ow!"

I fell over to land on my butt next to the sofa.

"Oops," Virgil managed amid laughter, "sorry, did I get your eye or something?" He sat up and reached over to me, while I covered my face with the pillow.

"Sucker…"

I laughed hysterically as I shoved the pillow into his face. He got pushed into the wall, which made a heavy thud noise. He struggled against me, but his laughter was preventing him from getting anywhere. I had him pinned to the floor as he pretty much gave up, laughing uncontrollably. I couldn't help myself, either; I laughed even harder and fell over next to him, clutching my aching sides.

"Hey! What's with you two? You wanna break something?"

We both attempted to stifle our laughter as we looked up from our positions on the floor. I saw the upside-down image of Sharon glaring down at us.

"Huh? Ok, sure. How about your head?" Virgil said, teary-eyed. We then broke into hysterics once again, rolling on the floor as if we had ulcers.

"You're lucky daddy ain't home. Stop playing around, you're gonna make a mess. Virgil!"

He sat up, panting heavily. "What?" he whined.

"I'm trying to make dinner. I don't need your lazy rump distracting me around here. If you wanna make a mess or whatever it is you're doing, do it in your own room…" She trudged off back to the kitchen, muttering about how irresponsible and childish we were.

Virgil hefted himself up and lent me a hand. I took it and he helped me to my feet. "Come on, Rich. Let's just go to my room."

"Sure." I looked over to the kitchen. "Hey, you just be sure to call us when it's ready…"

"I ain't yer momma. You come down when you feel like it."

I looked back at V and laughed, rolling my eyes. "I'm sure glad she isn't my momma…" I whispered to him.

We both snickered.

Then we made a mad dash for the stairs.

Upon entering V's room, I promptly collapsed on his bed and kicked off my shoes. Then I sat up, holding myself up on my elbows. He came over and slumped beside me.

I looked up at him. He seemed rather tired now, and to my worry, a little devoid of mirth.

"So, uh, what do you wanna do?"

He looked down at me with a half-grin. "I don't know, what do you wanna do?"

"Hmm, I don't know…maybe a little…"

"Zombie Warriors!" we said in unison.

We scurried over to his makeshift entertainment center next to his bed. Basically, it was just his T. V. on top of his bookshelf, and the Gamestation on a shelf underneath. V turned it on and popped in the disc, and we each grabbed a controller.

"I got dibs on the wizard."

He scoffed. He scoffed! "Go ahead, you can have him. I'll take the fighter." The wizard was awesome…

"Hey, the wizard is like, the most powerful character in the game."

"Yeah, but I hate using magic," the game started up and we selected our designated characters, "I just want to kill some zombies!"

I scoffed back. "Leave it to you to kill strategy. Basher."

"Don't come cryin' to me when you're trapped in a corner and you're out of MP…"

"Ha! Do you think I'm an amateur? I'll have the area clear of zombies before you even get a chance to smack one of 'em with your club."

"We'll see about that."

We started in the first area and began hacking and slashing our way through the hordes of zombies. We good-naturedly tried to show each other up, showing off our moves and abilities on the relatively easy zombies. We'd even watch in awe as the other would mess around with the walking corpses, making fun of their ridiculous AI.

"Watch this, V…"

My wizard slowly approached a zombie heading towards Virgil's character. It went after him, but I was able to sneak up behind him while it was fixated on Virgil's unmoving fighter. "Boom!" I yelled as a fire spell instantly left the wizard's hands, and the zombie's head burst into flames. It toppled over and was consumed by fire. It's charred corpse then disappeared after a few seconds.

We were laughing once again. We continued on, and then the zombies got harder. Then we really had to kick it into overdrive and coordinate our teamwork.

"Hey, use an ice spell on 'em. It'll freeze them long enough so I can club 'em."

"Shoot! I'm almost outta MP. You got any magic potions?"

"There. I dropped one on the floor. Be careful; those zombies are attracted to items."

"Ok. Got it. Alrighty, one ice spell, coming up!"

"Uh-oh, there's more coming from that cave over there…"

"Here, I'll cast a protection circle. You deal with the frozen ones there."

"Damn! They got a lot of life points…"

"Grrr…this protection circle only works on the undead. Those flying things up there will still get through…"

"Hey, they're breaking free!"

"Aw, crud."

"I'll use a bomb."

"Hey, not so close, it'll hurt us too!"

"Yeah, but we gotta thin them out. There's too many of 'em!"

"Too many of 'em? Well you know there's only one thing left to do, then…"

"Uh-oh…"

"Whoo-hoo! Go, fire spell!"

"Well I might as well go berserk, too."

We barreled on through, Virgil crashing through the zombie horde with his vicious club attack, and I running around shooting my fire spell at the zombies from afar. All the while we shouted at the zombies in our way, pulverizing and eliminating them from the screen. There was constant zombie moaning while we went on our zombie cleansing rampage.

After a couple hours, the world was now safe from, well…what else? Zombies, of course.

I turned to Virgil while the credits rolled on the screen, "You want to go for another round?"

He stared past the screen despondently. "No, that's ok." He sighed and abandoned the controller, then began pacing around the room.

I silently turned off the Gamestation and stood up. "V, what's the matter?"

He restlessly groaned in response. Then, "You know, Rich. It's already dark out…"

"V, could you just relax? Take a load off. Hey," I stepped up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, stopping him from pacing. That always made me nervous. "You promised me!" I pointed an accusatory finger at him, lightly poking him in the chest with it.

"I know, but…it's just that…there could be crimes out there happening right now! We should be out there patrolling."

"We need time for a life at least once in a while, V."

"But people could be in trouble!"

"I know, I know…" What was I supposed to say? I mean, that's why we became superheroes. To help protect Dakota from metahumans and from crime. Still, weren't we entitled to some time to ourselves? It wasn't the first time we just decided to stay home. He was starting to make me feel slightly guilty about just staying there trying to have fun while the city might have needed Static and Gear, but at the same time, I really wanted to just hang out with him. We were still young; we still wanted to do things that teenagers wanted to do.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'll have Backpack's sensors on high alert. I'll have him detect any familiar metahuman patterns, any strange anomalies, anything. We'll be the first to know if anything goes down," I reassured him.

"You can do that?"

"Sure, I do it all the time. Well, maybe not so extensively, but Backpack has all the necessary sensors. It should turn out fine…"

"I guess. Sounds good to me," he stroked his chin pensively, "Well, since you have it covered, why don't we go downstairs and rustle up some grub?"

"Sharon's cooking?" He nodded. "Ah, who am I kidding? My hunger doesn't discriminate. Sure let's go!"

About an hour later we were back at Virgil's room, stuffed and satiated. Virgil stretched himself out on his bed, while I lay on the floor, my arms folded behind my head.

"Those mashed potatoes weren't half bad. Though I don't know why she served them after the main course…"

Virgil peeped at me from his bed. "Mashed potatoes? Where did you eat dinner? That was some kinda whack pudding she tried to make."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Pudding? Are you serious, man?"

"Yep. I saw the package earlier when I went to the kitchen. No wonder you scarffed it down so fast."

"I was wondering why it was in a separate bowl."

"Nothing gets past you, huh, genius?"

"Shaddup."

He snickered. Then he grew quiet again. Ok, now I knew there was something bothering him for sure.

After a few moments of silence, I spoke.

"Yo, what's up, V?"

"Huh? Oh, no, nothing…"

I got up, lifting myself up into a sitting position and fixing my scrutiny on him. "You can't fool me, Virge. Come on, there is definitely something up with you."

He gave me a half-hearted grin. "Just thinking about crime fighting…" he said, feigning cheerfulness.

"V…" I said in a commanding tone.

"Ah, Richie, come on…can't we just put on a movie or something?"

"V…" I said again, adding a little melodic intonation to my voice.

He sighed. He crossed his arms and leaned back into his pillow. I could tell he was making me drag it out of him. Whenever it came to these, sticky subjects, he sort of tried to avoid it. He preferred to make me pull it out rather than it come from his own initiative. He was always like that; sinking into his own world whenever a heavy topic was affecting it. He would eventually open up; it would just take a little time, is all.

I stood up and went over to the bed, sitting down opposite from him. I leaned forward and said in a more serious tone, "Hey, Virgil, come on, seriously. I'm your best friend, I'd like to think you'd be able to tell me anything."

"I know, Richie. It's just that…" he left his mouth agape, as if he wanted to say something more. He then closed it in consternation.

"You see," he continued, "the thing is…well…I don't know…um…have you ever felt…torn, Rich?"

I raised an eyebrow instinctively. "Torn? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure…it's hard to explain…I just feel like…I'm being pulled in different directions…like…there's so many things that are tugging at me…like all these different things that want a piece of me…you know?"

I wasn't precisely sure what he was talking about, but I think I had a good idea.

"Well, that's normal, V. I mean, we don't exactly lead the lives of normal teenagers…we have so many more responsibilities, more than other adults, even. I get stressed out sometimes, too. That's why I suggested we take this much needed break."

"Yeah, I understand that…but…this feels like something more. I'm not…not exactly sure, I can't really say…for certain…but it just feels like, I mean something to different people, and I'm not sure what role I'm supposed to play. I think…"

"Maybe you know, you just haven't really confronted it head on yet. It's something that maybe you're not willing to look at. Maybe," I settled in, starting to get a good handle on the situation, "maybe it's like one of those things on those talk shows my mom watches. You know, like this one time the guy was talking about how some things are just too much for someone to really face down and deal with. Like you don't want to look at what is really causing the problem. Sort of like repressing it, I guess," Virgil looked at me with a worried, somewhat confused _expression. Even I was a little confused myself.

I smiled at him and added, "Hey…this isn't the latest bang baby come to threaten Dakota. This isn't something Static can solve…this is a Virgil problem, and Virgil's the one who's gonna have to deal with it. Give it some time, I'm sure it'll come to you, and you'll figure it out."

Virgil looked thoughtful. After a brief moment of staring at his sheets, he looked up and smiled. "Yeah…you're right. I wish there was an easier solution. Or at least a more obvious one. But I guess I'm just gonna have to face this myself. No super power's gonna help me on this one…"

"But you know what, you still got me. I'm still your best bud, right bro? If you need anything, anything whatsoever, I'll be there for you, man. Don't even hesitate to ask." A clumsy smile appeared on me. I couldn't hold a serious _expression for too long. It made me feel a little nervous, and strangely self-conscious.

"Thanks man…I really appreciate it…" He reached over and our fists met in our usual way.

We didn't say much immediately after that. There was a silence, and at first I didn't notice it. I kind of stared at Virgil during it. I wasn't sure what to tell him. I shook my head.

"Oh, hey, I brought a DVD. It's the Evil Swamp Creature from Planet X. Want to watch? It's a classic…"

"Sure. You know I can't get enough of that sci-fi horror goodness."

I got the movie out of my backpack (the non-metallic one) and popped it into his DVD player. I pushed his "entertainment center" over and settled in on his bed to watch, while he went downstairs for some popcorn and munchies. He came back with an armful of various junk food.

I grinned with excitement. "Yes! You did good, V."

He laughed. "Yeah, I made sure to get all your favorites. Put the movie on, I'm ready for some Swamp Creature butt kicking time!"

He hopped onto the bed giddily. I pressed the play button, and immediately commenced pigging out.

The movie was good, lots of cheesy special effects, melodramatic acting, and of course sci-fi techno gibberish. However, my mind was restless. It drifted slowly as the movie played.

I kept thinking about what Virgil said; It really made me think. I wondered what he meant by being pulled in different directions. It must have been everything that was happening in his life: being a superhero, school, his dad's expectations, his own expectations, his sister's rivalry, trying to have a social life, trying to be normal…and then…I hated to admit it, but then there was Daisy.

I wasn't sure what that was all about. I realized I was afraid to know. That uneasiness came again. That nagging feeling that pulled at me from the back of my mind. It was there again. I couldn't help thinking about it as I stuffed my face with popcorn and cheesy puffs and watched as the swamp creature consumed another victim.

I couldn't describe where it came from or why I suddenly felt it each time I thought about the prospect of him and Daisy being together. It could only be aptly described as being "weird". The perfect word for the things you couldn't understand.

I also felt like something was being held back, like I didn't want to entirely see what was nagging me about the whole situation myself. I guess I just felt…Virgil and I were best friends, and I didn't want to have to give up what we had.

We were a team, and not just a superhero team. We were very close; we were closer to each other than anyone else in our lives. We understood each other in a way that only we could understand. Like we could anticipate each other's thoughts and feelings. It came in real handy when fighting a metahuman to know exactly what your partner's planning, and to be completely in synch with them, like some kind of superhero choreography. Well, maybe that's a strange analogy, but still, Virgil and I knew each other like the back of our hands.

Not to mention we knew each other's biggest secrets.

We had gone through so much together, I didn't even want to think about something coming between us. If he really ended up with Daisy…where would that leave me?

Then I realized I didn't have any answer… not for myself, and not for Virgil. As hard as we worked together to resolve things for other people, take care of their problems, this was going to be much harder to solve than anything we'd come across yet.

I felt a sudden, sharp nudge to my arm. "Hey Rich, look, the best part…here's where they zap him with the gamma ray!"

I was derailed from my train of thought, then fixated on the sight of the gnarling swamp creature being zapped by the cheap-looking, cartoony ray. Virgil and I laughed hysterically. Our laughter heightened when the dramatic death scene came on next. The monster's drooping, dying face was priceless. The movie ended and the credits rolled, and we were doubled over in gleeful pain.

I leaned over on Virgil for support, and lifted myself up. I removed my glasses and wiped the tears away. "Ha, ha…did you see the look on Swampy's face?"

"Yeah…kinda looked like Hot Streak after a good dousing…"

We both grew quiet, trying to conjure up the image. Then we burst into more laughter. We collapsed over onto each other's shoulders, crying as if we had lamented the creature's death.

And that's how it went. After a good bout of joking and more laughing, we were worn out.

"ah…it's getting late. We gotta get up in the morning."

"Yeah, we should probably get ready for bed…"

"We'll be needing our sleep…"

"…Although…" I turned to face Virgil.

He turned his head and we made eye contact, "…the world might be needing a little help with that zombie problem…again…"

"Well then, how about another round of zombie dispatching, Virgil, my good sir?"

"Why, I'd be delighted, Richard, my good man…"

Moments later we were in sleeping attire, and ready for our next foray into the adventurous world of zombie bashing.

We lay on the outstretched comforter and blankets we had put on the floor, both of our weary gazes transfixed on the screen, now the only source of light. Our hands could be heard mechanically fiddling on the controllers. I stared at the screen almost hypnotically, watching as I executed the umpteenth zombie. The corpse fell to the floor with a moan, and my eyelids slowly followed it. I ceased my functions on the controller and it fell from my hand.

"Ugh…" I groaned, "I'm totally beat, bro."

He yawned. "Yeah, me too."

I pulled the blanket over me and turned over to face him. Then I removed my glasses and gave them to Virgil. "Hey, put these up there when you turn off the Gamestation, will ya? Thanks…"

He grabbed them delicately and looked at me with a tired version of annoyance, which was rather amusing to me. I would have laughed if I had the energy to. "Sure…" he said flatly. Without getting up, a small crackling burst of electromagnetic energy filled his hand, illuminating the room with a blue light. My glasses were carefully placed on the shelf by the electrical stream. Virgil then shifted it and enveloped the Gamestation in the energy. Then it shut off. The energy then fizzled out and disappeared, casting the room in utter darkness.

I closed my eyes and snuggled in. "You're gonna bust it one day doing that," I said sleepily.

Virgil settled in and I heard the ruffling of his blankets wrapping around him. "Good night, Rich…"

A stray thought caught me off guard.

"Oh, hey…so what's going down tomorrow?"

"Hmm…oh…well Daisy and Frieda will be meeting us here tomorrow morning. Then we're all going to Dakota Springs together."

"Oh." I bury my hands beneath my pillow. Tomorrow was going to be…interesting. I couldn't help feeling that I was going to expect a lot of uneasy, and possibly awkward moments. I wasn't looking forward to seeing Daisy's bold advances, her pulling Virgil away from the more thrilling rides, and not to mention just overall fun-spoiler.

I hoped at least nothing would go wrong.

Another stray thought invaded my mind again. That annoying, nagging feeling just wouldn't quit.

I suddenly found myself thinking about what I told Virgil. Was that nagging feeling of mine just like Virgil's, something I was not willing to regard? Something I was not willing to acknowledge? The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to know. And the more right I seemed to prove myself…

Oh well. Thoughts for another day, another time. Back to the mental filing cabinet you go…

At the moment, I was feeling rather comfortable and I sought to keep it that way. I thought no more about those worries and drifted off to sleep.

Well, what'd ya'll think? Please realize that this may undergo a revision, so check back when I update, but it'll most likely be the revision of this rather than a chapter 4…hahaha…well stay tuned for chapter 4, coming soon! ^ - ^!