More To It
By: VincentM
"... robots threatened to over take the city. As this incredible footage shows, the Justice League stepped in just in the nick of time, dismantling the terror unleashed upon Metropolis. Now we go to Wilson Doral, who's on the scene with a live report. Wilson, tell us, what is the atmosphere like around..."
*click*
"Hey!" Virgil said, glaring up at Richie from where he was sprawled out along the floor. "I was watching that."
"I know." Richie dropped the controller, stretching out on the couch and having to make a quick move to catch a book that threatened to fall off his lap. "That's why I turned it off. Now, a tenet is to a theologian as...."
"As the SAT is to my brain exploding." Virgil grabbed a pillow off the couch, putting it over his face. "I can't do this anymore, Rich," he said, voice muffled through layers of cotton and stuffing.
"Yes, you can." Richard plucked the pillow away from Virgil's face, tossing it over his shoulder and across the room. "You already have the math part down pat, bro. It's just the verbal that's tripping you up. It's not hard."
"So says the super brain." Virgil dragged himself off of the floor, tossing his notebook on the coffee table. Leaning back, he stretched his back until it popped, letting out a sigh of relief. "Half of these words aren't even real. They just make this stuff up. I bet there's a whole bunch of old people giggling like idiots right now because they're forcing a lot of kids to memorize the meaning of a fake word, like..." Virgil paused, leaning down and digging through a pile of flashcards. He finally picked one, squinting at it. "Like, 'peremptory'."
Richie frowned. "It's not a fake word," he said, sitting up and resting one foot on the edge of the couch. "It means, 'in a commanding manner.' We went over it less than ten minutes ago."
"See what I mean?" Virgil tossed the card in the air, then zapped it with a bolt that danced from the tips of his fingers. The ashes fluttered down to the carpet, a faint scent of smoke filling the air. "My brain is fried, just like that stupid card."
"Nice imagery there," Richie said wryly. "You do know, though, I can always print more."
Virgil crossed the room, leaning down so he could look directly into Richie's face. "Have I told you lately that I hate you?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Yes. Now then..." Richie grabbed Virgil's arm and dragged him down to the couch right next to him. Flipping open his notebook again, he cleared his throat. "Tenet is to theologian as..."
Virgil groaned.
* * * * * *
"I bet Superman never had to study for the SAT's."
Richie was used to Virgil's random jumps in logic when it came to conversation. Not five minutes ago, they'd been discussing what they were going to do after patrol. Richie was certain he'd mentioned something about pizza. Now, they were somehow back on the SAT's. He rolled on his back in midair, feeling the crackle of energy in the wind as he flew close to Virgil on his board.
"Well, he is the last son of Krypton," Richie reasoned, letting Backpack do the scanning of metahumans for him. "That means he probably didn't have a father that would be supremely disappointed if he didn't score at least a 1300 and make him take it over and over again until he did."
"Yeah."
Richie frowned. Virgil had been quiet all afternoon. Even when they had a mini-battle with Hotstreak, he didn't make nearly as many bad puns as he usually did. Richie knew Virgil well enough to know that something was weighing heavily on his friend's mind. He also knew that it wouldn't necessarily be something he could easily pick out. Virgil tended to keep it all inside, at least until he'd come to some kind of decision on his own.
"Let's land a minute, bro," Richie said, steering them towards the clock tower by the college. Virgil didn't argue and within moments, they were perched side-by-side on the clock face.
Virgil looked tired, which Richie could understand. It was nearly three in the morning, if the hour hand they were sitting on was any indication. Richie hardly slept anymore and didn't necessarily feel any ill effects from it, his mind a flurry of thoughts that never slowed down. Virgil's powers tended to wipe him out after awhile, however. It was something they were still trying to balance.
An easy silence fell between then, broken only by the occasional sound of cars below and the constant grinding of the gears deep inside the clock. Virgil idly kicked his heels against the cold stone behind them, letting his sneakers bounce off the bricks. Richie waited patiently for Virgil to speak, knowing it was the only way he was likely to figure out what was going on with his friend.
"Do you think the Justice League hangs together when they're not working?" Virgil asked after a few moments. "Like, after they save the day, do you think they all go out and get a beer or split a pizza? Something?"
Richie thought about that for a second, fighting back a small giggle in the back of his throat at the image of Batman playing pool with Hawkgirl in some seedy dive while Flash and Green Lantern boasted about their recent heroics. Wonder Woman would probably be trying to fight off strange men hitting on her... literally, and The Martian Manhunter drunk? Too scary or too funny, Richie couldn't decide which would be the best response to that.
"I'm not sure they ever stop working, bro," Richie said, once he'd banished the silly thought from his head. "There's always something for them to do, be it stopping criminals here on earth or fighting nasty things out in space."
"They're pretty serious all the time, aren't they?"
"Seems that way." Richie looked carefully at Virgil, trying to read his friend. "They sort of have to be. They have a lot of responsibilities."
Virgil nodded, looking out over the city. The wind was starting to pick up again and Richie could smell rain on the breeze. He took off his helmet, shaking out his hair. Spring in Dakota tended to be muggy and miserable, which meant people were unhappy, which meant the crime rate increased. Mix in the fact that the school year was starting to wrap up, with all the tests, worrying, and stress that entailed, and it was no wonder Virgil felt melancholy.
"It's good," Virgil said, breaking through Richie's thoughts. "They do good. They help people. There's nothing wrong with that. If everybody just helped each other out, they wouldn't even need heroes. I guess... that's why we're heroes, because we have to put other people first."
"Sometimes," Richie agreed. "I think, though... we have to put ourselves first on occasion. Otherwise, we'll just go crazy. I'm Richie before I'm Gear, just like you're Virgil before you're Static. Static is what you do, V, not who you are."
"It seems the other way around for everybody else," Virgil replied, frowning. "Superman, Batman, Robin, Cyborg, Raven... that's who they are. That's what they do. I'm not sure I can do that. It just seems.... there has to be more to it, Rich. There has to be."
Virgil leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, looking down at the city below. "But when I think that," he said softly, "I feel like I'm being selfish."
Richie didn't say anything, giving Virgil time to organize his thoughts. A police siren sounded in the distance and Richie called up a quick reading of recent police reports from Backpack, glancing down at the display on the robot's back. It didn't look like anything important, nothing the cops couldn't handle on their own. The Dakota police force did an admirable job of dealing with their strange city. While they welcomed the help of Gear, Static, and, on occasion, Rubberband Man, they managed to take care of things on their own most of the time.
"Am I being selfish?" Virgil asked, looking up at Richie.
"No." Directing Backpack to scuttle up the wall and keep scanning, Richie relaxed, scooting closer to his friend. "What brought all this on, bro?"
Virgil sighed. "The assembly."
Right, the assembly. Richie had almost paid attention when they were all forced down to the gym for a mandatory school meeting a few days ago. The guidance counselors were in fine form, making grand, cryptic statements about their futures, the SAT's, and selecting courses for their senior year. They made it sound as if, were they to pick the wrong electives, they would spend the rest of their life flipping burgers down at Get Your Grub On.
That fantastic assembly currently had their class in a quiet uproar. Everyone was talking about the future, about colleges, choosing who they wanted to be and what they wanted to do. The doors to opportunity opened and slammed shut around them randomly, based on this rumor or that rumor about application processes and financial aide requirements. Richie didn't let himself get drawn into the debates.
The future was too scary to contemplate right now.
"What do you want to do?" Richie asked.
"That's the problem." Virgil let out a groan of frustration, running his hand through his hair. "I don't know. I feel like I have to be Static. I owe the world something now. Before the Big Bang, I knew, Rich. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Now, everything's messed up. How can I leave Dakota when Bang Babies are still running around rampant? How can I ever go anywhere, when they need me here so badly?"
Richie knew Virgil's pre-Static plans. About a year before the Big Bang, they'd completely planned a road trip to take after high school. Just the two of them, together, with a little money they'd been saving up, would hit the road, heading to big cities and small towns all across America. All that money was gone now, poured into the fund needed to maintain their costumes, buy the gadgets he needed to help Virgil out, and constantly restock their small first aide kit at the gas station, since coming home with bruises and scrapes everyday probably wouldn't make Virgil's dad happy.
After the Great American Road trip, as they'd dubbed it so long ago, they would pick a college together (they never did decide which one), get an apartment, and find their way to success and freedom from their old lives. Richie knew that anything that took him away from his parents and Dakota in general was better than staying. Virgil, on the other hand, always felt restless. He wanted to see the world and he wanted Richie to see it with him.
For Virgil, it seemed, those dreams went up in smoke the day the Big Bang hit. For Richie, it took about a year later, when his own powers began to manifest. It was part of the reason Richie selectively ignored that little question about his future whenever possible.
For some reason, he kept having paranoid delusions about being vivisected in a government lab somewhere. They didn't help him sleep any easier at night, when he did sleep. He attributed it to post-traumatic stress from his kidnapping by Alva.
Maybe it was the excitement of being superheroes that had made them forget about the future entirely, for a short while, at any rate. Now, the future was rushing up to meet them, whether they were ready for it or not. Virgil didn't like what he was seeing and Richie couldn't necessarily blame him.
He really didn't think the folks in the Justice League seemed all that happy.
"What about you?" Virgil asked him suddenly.
Richie blinked at the unexpected question, scratching his chin. "I think," he began slowly, "that no matter what happens, I can deal with it... so long as you're there."
Virgil looked surprised, sitting up in astonishment. "Me?" he asked.
"Yeah," Richie said with a nod. "I don't... I don't even know who I am half the time anymore. My head is so full of thoughts, thoughts that I never even considered before, that I sometimes feel like I'm outside of myself and this new person is in control. I remember my life before my brain was infused with toxic, mutagenic chemicals, but... it feels like another person. When I'm with you, though, I feel like myself. It's hard to explain, bro, but... you make me feel like Richie."
Virgil was giving him a very curious look and Richie rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"Did I just freak you out, man?" he asked, a sheepish smile on his face.
Virgil shook his head rapidly. "No, you didn't," he said. "It's just... I'd never really thought about you and what... how you've changed."
Richie shrugged, glancing up at the clouds above them. "It didn't happen over night, so I didn't notice it right away. During that whole first year, my brain was already starting to change. How else could I manage to come up with your board, the Zap Caps, and the Shock Vox? I just didn't see it until you pointed it out to me after I made Backpack."
"That's true," Virgil said, looking thoughtful. Then, he grinned, punching Richie's arm lightly. "You still didn't answer my question, man. What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Richie laughed. "A fireman," he said with a snicker, which Virgil echoed. It was an old joke between them, brought up by an assignment they'd had to do in fifth grade. Forcing himself to sober up, Richie took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"I want to be your friend," he said at last. "I don't know if I want to go to college. I'm worried if people find out how smart I am, it could cause trouble down the road. That's why I'm still getting B's in school. It's easier to be average.
"As for something more specific?" Richie shrugged. "I think we'll still be superheroes, but you're right... there has to be something more to it. It's not enough for us to be Static and Gear. We have to be Virgil and Richie first. I think the Justice League and the Teen Titans, as much good as they do, sort of forgot about that part. So..."
Richie turned so he was facing Virgil, not an easy task on such a narrow hour hand, which was starting to point down towards the ground. They weren't going to have this place to sit much longer. Time kept moving on, no matter how much they wanted it to stop.
"So," he repeated, feeling very determined, very... peremptory, "I think we need to figure out some way to go on that road trip. I think we need to go to college. I think we need to get an apartment and enjoy ourselves. I think, after we save the damn world, we need to go out and get pizza together, then go back home and play video games. Because, the truth is, bro, I need Virgil a hell of a lot more than I need Static. I always will."
Virgil nodded slowly, a small smile on his face. "I think you may be right," he said, "because I know that I need Richie a lot more than I need Gear."
"Exactly," Richie said, satisfied. He held up his fist and Virgil responded automatically, doing their personal handshake that seemed to grow more complicated with each passing year. "I also think that you have a ton of vocabulary words you need to learn, so we should probably call it a night."
Virgil rolled his eyes, but unfolded his board, letting it float in the air in front of them. "Damn you and your logic," he said, leaping off the hour hand. "Are you spending the night?"
"What, and miss going home and getting yelled at for waking up my dad?" Richie asked, pushing off the wall as his skates activated, floating easily next to his friend. "Gee... such a hard decision to make."
"Okay," Virgil said, grinning, "but you're going to have to explain to Pops what you're doing over on a school night and how you got in without him hearing."
"I'm a super genius," Richie said, putting his helmet back on as Backpack crawled back into place. "I'll come up with something."
They flew off toward Virgil's house in an easy silence. Richie's mind had strayed back to the road trip plans, which they hadn't exactly talked about since the Big Bang. For the first time in a long time, he felt excited about his future, even if only for the short term.
"I'm glad you're with me," Virgil said and Richie looked over at him quizzically. "I mean, I'm sorry about that whole infecting you with Bang Baby stuff part, but I think if I didn't have you, I'd be going crazy... like, Bruce Wayne, lives in a mansion with bats, spends all his time brooding and being scary, kind of crazy."
"Heck, even if we do go crazy," Richie reasoned, "at least we'll go crazy together. It's always nice to have company."
Virgil laughed in agreement and Richie grinned under his helmet. Maybe they were crazy. Maybe they would fall into the same, terrible pattern as the rest of the superheroes they knew, spending their lives fighting crime and forgetting who they were underneath the spandex. Somehow, Richie didn't see that happening. There was more to it, more to them. They were friends first.
No matter what the future held, he didn't see that changing anytime soon.
The End.