Hey dudes. Another chap up and ready to be read and reviewed for ya. Hope you all enjoy! Oh, and thankx again for all your reviews:)
"So, if two times pie equals the divided sum of..." the monotonous voice of Mr. Feller quickly caused Virgil to lose his attention on the problem he was learning. He sat half asleep in his mathematics class next to his friends Daisy and Richey and did his best to pay attention. It wasn't easy though. On top of Mr. Feller's voice putting him to sleep; he couldn't seem to get his mind off of what he saw on the news that morning.
"The infamous metahuman gang called 'The Metabreed' escaped Dakota's high-security prison yesterday afternoon with the help of an unknown metahuman calling himself 'Hotstreak'. We encourage everyone to be careful on the streets until they are captured."
The reporter's words ran over and over in Virgil's mind. There was no video footage of the escape, but the police described this 'Hotstreak' as being a red and blonde haired metahuman with the power to create and control fire. Francis...it's gotta be. Virgil's attention was drawn to the window next to him as he thought. Why do I have a feeling that this can't end good?
Just then, as he was aimlessly staring out the window, he heard a large explosion and saw a huge pillar of smoke arise from a few blocks away. At first he thought it was just a fire that the firemen could handle on their own. But as soon as he began to hear numerous sirens of everything from police cars to ambulances, he knew Static was probably needed. Thinking quickly, he thought of a good excuse to get him out of class.
"Mr. Feller?" Virgil called as he stood from his chair and grabbed his backpack.
"Yes, Virgil?" Mr. Feller's dull voice answered.
"May I be excused?"
"What is it this time?" his voice was obviously agitated.
"Well, I thought that meat had a strange green hint to it, but I decided to eat it anyway..." Virgil stopped purposely in mid sentence to pretend like he was going to throw up.
"Okay, okay, just go...Quickly!" Mr. Feller exclaimed as Virgil ran out of the class room.
Well, that was close. Virgil thought, running out of one of the school's back doors. He jolted into an alley near the school and quickly changed into his costume. As Static, he pulled out his flying disk and flew as fast as he could to the area where the smoke was rising. Upon reaching the block, he saw an old abandoned building being engulfed in flames despite the efforts of the firemen.
"Static!" Static turned in looked under him where he saw a policeman yelling up to him. "Your partner is still in there!"
Static's eyes grew wide in fear to hear such news. "What?! Why is she in there?"
"She was fighting the Metabreed, but I don't know now."
Without thinking any further, Static charged up his disk and glided forward into an open window of the building. The fire was burning bright all around him; he knew the building would not hold for long as its support beams and rafters were burning slowly in the heated flames. "Angel!" he called over and over, but there was no response. As he made his way through the burning debris in the room, Static was beginning to fear the worst. "No...no, she can't be...she's practically made of fire...she's gotta be okay." Thoughts ran through his mind faster then he could bearably understand them. "Rioko! Where are you?!" he called again. Still no answer.
Static wasn't about to give up, but he knew the fire growing around him would soon become unbearable. But just then, as all hope was becoming lost, a loud crash and pile of debris rained down in front of him. Static peered through the turned up dust and allowed a smiled of joy come over his face to see his partner standing before him, safe and unharmed. Well, relatively speaking that is. Her arms and face were covered in scratches and her clothes were tattered and burned; but all in all, she was fine.
Static's joy soon diminished though when he noticed an unconscious Shiv hanging over her shoulder and a bound Ebon being dragged behind her. "Hey bro. A little help?" Angel asked wearily.
Upon seeing her tired smile, Static knew Angel needed his help. "Yeah, here let me help," he took Shiv from her shoulder and pulled Ebon along with a static charge. "Umm...Ang, I think we should get out of here." Static said after hearing the floor above them creak violently.
"I agree. This way!" Angel pulled a flaming force field over herself and Static to keep them safe from any falling debris and quickly led him out of the flaming building by means of a back door.
The very moment they reached the street outside the building, a deafening crash was heard within the building; no doubt the floor that they were just a minute ago standing under. A group of policemen and medics rushed toward the two heroes and their 'baggage' as soon as they caught sight of them. A special team of medics took Shiv and Ebon into their custody and headed off to a guarded hospital while another tried to look over Static and Angel for any major injuries. Angel didn't appreciate that.
Just as soon as she was sure Static was okay, Angel pushed the medic beside her away with one of her wings and took off flying high into the air without a word. "Angel! Wait! Where are you going?!" Static yelled after her.
Once realizing that she wouldn't answer, he quickly thanked the medics helping him with some minor burns and flew off after her. "Angel?!" he called, trying to catch up with her ever increasing speed. "What'd you do that for?"
"Go back to school Virgil. This doesn't concern you." Angel spoke without even looking her concerned friend in the eye.
"Actually it does. See, you're my partner, and not acting like yourself right now."
"What do you know about how I act? You know nothing about me other then some bad memories."
Static knew she was right, but still, he knew something was wrong. "Rie, this is about Hotstreak isn't it?"
Rie halted in mid-air and hovered in front of Virgil with her eyes towards the ground. "Yes. He's Francis."
Static cautiously moved closer to his friend and put a hand on her shoulder, being mindful of the scratches. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?"
The young metahuman just stared at the ground for a few moments and finally lifted her head and began flying off again. "Follow me." she said simply.
Angel led Static in silence for about five minutes when she stopped upon reaching the top ledge of a tall business building. The two superheroes sat down with their legs hanging over the edge, just staring out over Dakota.
The awkward silence that hovered over them for so long was finally lifted by Static. "So, is there a reason you brought me here?"
Rie sat completely exhausted from the previous battle with her back leaning up against the building and her wings spread out behind her. "You know...this actually started out as a good day." She laughed sarcastically.
Even though Static had grown fairly close to Rioko over the last few weeks, he still had a hard time following her sometimes. "What do you mean?"
Rie sighed deeply before she spoke again. "I saw him Virgil. He's the one who started the fire."
"What happened Rie?"
"I was patrolling, like I normally do. I heard a fight going on in a nearby building so I went to check it out. I saw through a window that Talon and Shiv were arguing with Ebon over some meaningless topic. I wasn't going to pay any mind to them, but then a large fireball came flying through the building's side. It was Hotstreak. Him, Talon and Shiv were all arguing with Ebon. I knew I had to stop him before he hurt someone, but for some reason, I just froze. I couldn't move Virg...people on the sidewalk were in danger, and I froze!" Rie paused to regain the composer she was gradually losing and continued.
"I managed to build up enough to intervene; you can see how much good that did me." Static gave her that confused look again as she spoke. "Shiv and Ebon were easy enough to stop, and Talon escaped, but Hotstreak...Francis, was another story. I tried to fight him, but I couldn't. He tried to kill me and I couldn't even lay a finger on him! As soon as he heard the cops outside he started to set the place on fire. I tried to diminish it, but there was too much...I couldn't hold it all. Francis got away and the only thing left on my mind was getting myself, Shiv, and Ebon out of there."
Static sat next to her, trying to think of something to say. "You did everything you could. We'll get them next time." He tried to be encouraging, but he knew it wasn't helping much.
"I don't know Virg...what if I freeze again?"
"You won't." Virgil said as he put a caring arm around Rie's shoulder.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Cuz next time, I'll be there." Rie smiled at Static's words and told him that he should probably get back to school before his teacher thought he died in the bathroom or something. Static hesitated to leave her alone, but eventually, he did go.
Rioko sat for a long time on that ledge before she built up the strength to fly home. It was around seven o'clock in the evening when she finally entered through her door. She walked to the kitchen and grabbed a water-soaked dish towel before settling down on her couch. She winced at the pain shooting up from her arm as she cleaned up the cuts and scrapes covering it. Just as she finished, she heard her cell phone ring. She jumped up and ran to the kitchen counter where her phone was resting. "Yeah?" she said as she answered.
"Hey Rie, Virg." Virgil said through the line.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I need you to meet me at the old pier down at gate 52."
"Sure. Why?"
"I think I found out where Talon and Hotstreak are hiding."
DumDumDum...haha...nice little cliff hanger for ya;)Later!
